Get stuck in - Help Save Bees!
Sunshine + Gorse + Bumblebee = Happiness :-)
Bumblebee species are declining in Europe, North America, and Asia due to a number of factors, including land-use change that reduces bumblebee food plants. Bumblebees are in danger in many developed countries due to habitat destruction and collateral pesticide damage. In a report published in January 2013, the European Food Safety Authority announced their research findings that three pesticides (clothianidine, imidaclopride & thiaméthoxame), presented a high risk for bees.
In Britain, until relatively recently, 19 species of native true bumblebee were recognised along with 6 species of cuckoo bumblebees. Of these, 3 have been extirpated, 8 are in serious decline, and only 6 remain widespread. Similar declines in bumblebees have been reported in Ireland, with 4 species being designated endangered, and another two species considered vulnerable to extinction. A decline in bumblebee numbers could cause large-scale changes to the countryside, resulting from inadequate pollination of certain plants. The world's first bumblebee sanctuary was established at Vane Farm in the Loch Leven National Nature Reserve in Scotland in 2008.
In 2011 London's Natural History Museum led the setting up of an International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Bumblebee Specialist Group to assess the threat status of bumblebee species worldwide using Red List criteria.
HELP SAVE BEES www.helpsavebees.co.uk/to_do_list.html and bumblebeeconservation.org/
Get stuck in - Help Save Bees!
Sunshine + Gorse + Bumblebee = Happiness :-)
Bumblebee species are declining in Europe, North America, and Asia due to a number of factors, including land-use change that reduces bumblebee food plants. Bumblebees are in danger in many developed countries due to habitat destruction and collateral pesticide damage. In a report published in January 2013, the European Food Safety Authority announced their research findings that three pesticides (clothianidine, imidaclopride & thiaméthoxame), presented a high risk for bees.
In Britain, until relatively recently, 19 species of native true bumblebee were recognised along with 6 species of cuckoo bumblebees. Of these, 3 have been extirpated, 8 are in serious decline, and only 6 remain widespread. Similar declines in bumblebees have been reported in Ireland, with 4 species being designated endangered, and another two species considered vulnerable to extinction. A decline in bumblebee numbers could cause large-scale changes to the countryside, resulting from inadequate pollination of certain plants. The world's first bumblebee sanctuary was established at Vane Farm in the Loch Leven National Nature Reserve in Scotland in 2008.
In 2011 London's Natural History Museum led the setting up of an International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Bumblebee Specialist Group to assess the threat status of bumblebee species worldwide using Red List criteria.
HELP SAVE BEES www.helpsavebees.co.uk/to_do_list.html and bumblebeeconservation.org/