You may have seen in the news over recent months about the dire state of the bee population in the UK and Europe. In fact, according to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT), the bee population has been declining over many years, with two species of bee becoming extinct in the UK since 1940.  It has been estimated that we have lost 97% of our flower-rich grassland since the 1930s. So, when you consider the fact that bees rely upon flowers for food, you can understand why the bee population is struggling as much as it is.

Many of us don’t appreciate just how important those little bees are to our way of life. For many of us they are simply a nuisance and some of us are even scared of them. But without them we couldn’t enjoy tasty foods like strawberries, raspberries, apples and tomatoes.  If we didn’t have these natural pollinators we would have to result to other means to pollinate our plants which would most likely increase the cost of fruit and vegetables.  As farmers, we need bees to ensure the success of a number of our crops, including the borage that we have decided to grow again this year, and also our beans.  At this time of year it is critical to the crop for us to be able to find a number of friendly beekeepers who are happy to bring their hives for the borage flowering season:  we think this year we will probably need over 50!

You may remember that we wrote in our blog this time last year that we were sowing a small acreage with wild meadow seed in the hope that it would encourage bees and other insects and we are hoping that it will become even more established this year.  We are enjoying being involved in creating these ‘bee friendly’ environments which are inviting to the bee population and hopefully we will be doing out bit to increase the number of UK bees before the situation becomes much worst.  We’ll keep you posted as the summer progresses!