As you may have heard, there are fewer honey bees around these days. This is not good - especially if you like honey!
Youlgrave people decided to do something about it.
Last year, the Youlgrave Bee Group was established. 13 people were trained to be bee-keepers and a small apiary (group of bee hives) was set up. But that’s only half the story. When one single beehive is busily making honey in May and June, there are something like 50,000 bees at work inside, and they require plenty of pollen and nectar from flowers to do the job.
Right. So we now have some bees. What we need to do next is to make sure they have enough to eat this summer to survive happily in our valley - and that’s where YOU come in!
Will you become a Youlgrave Bee-Friend?
Pollen and nectar for honey bees (and most other insects especially bumblebees and butterflies) are often found in plants with ‘open faces’ where you can see a ring of petals round a central group of stamens, or ones which are shaped especially for bee tongues to feed from. These are often plants growing wild like daisies and buttercups and clovers, but in our own gardens we can plant flowers which not only look beautiful but are useful for insects too.
The more flowers in the valley, the happier our bees will be! They will thrive and multiply and produce more and more honey which can be shared by the people who live here. We will also find that the crops from our fruit trees and vegetables will be better and larger as they are pollinated by busily feeding insects.
It’s simple to become a Youlgrave Bee Friend?
Just register here on our bee blog website or contact Jeni Edwards on 636550 or Judith Orchard on 630202.
Once registered, you will be eligible to buy packets of seeds for bee-friendly flowers for just 30p each. They will be available at the Youlgrave Village Market in the Village Hall from 10-12 noon on Saturday, 12th February. (Seeds ordered include alyssum, anchusa, antirrhinum, candytuft, cornflower, cosmos, dianthus, pot marigold (calendula), nasturtium and stock. All seeds are ordered as small varieties so they can be grown in pots.)
You will also be eligible to enter our exciting Wheeled Gardens competition to be held as part of the Youlgrave Carnival in July - and to join in with the big bee count this summer which will find out how many different kinds plant we can see bees feeding from in our villages?
