Here is a bee, the bumbling sort I might add.  We found her in the dining room this weekend.  I’m guessing she came in with a basket full of logs from the woodstore, where she was probably hibernating for the winter.  She was pretty dozy, I hope she wasn’t unwell, she posed quite passively on this coffee filter paper.  Bumble bees (as opposed to honey bees and wasps) are not generally given to stinging, you’d either have to sit on one or be an extremely annoying person to get stung by one.  We have returned her to the woodstore and hopefully she will be ready to start a new colony of buff-tail bumble bees shortly.  She and all the male bees will die next winter, only the remaining fertilised ’queen’ bees will hibernate ready to start new colonies the following year.  But before then they will all be very useful pollinating our gardens and crops.  Bumble bees don’t make honey in quantities that would be useful to us, for that we must look to their sleeker cousins the honey bees.

Bees are in a spot of bother at the moment.  Their numbers (both bumble and honey) are declining.  Nobody is entirely sure why, and of course, there may be more than one reason for their decline.  Among the reasons given are the varroa mite, this parasite has been particularly devastating in the US where bee populations are purposely moved around the states in order to pollinate sucessive crops.  This movement makes them more susceptible to attack.  Global warming, or at least unpredictable weather patterns are blamed also.  The use of pesticides and modern farming methods, including the introduction of GM crops have been cited in the decline of the bee.  Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) whereby hives are mysteriously abandoned is disturbing.  Parasites that would normally raid empty hives refuse to go near them.  It has been suggested, although not conclusively proved, that the use of mobile phones plays a part in this as it interferes with bee navigation systems.   Oh and Goldilocks tells me that even Dr Who is concerned about the disappearance of bees.  Alien tampering!!!!  The point is that more research and action is needed to help the bee.

Einstein once said that without the bee humankind would only have four years left to live.  DEFRA, on a slightly less alarming note seem a little more laid back about the fate of bees, the opinion seems to be that they are not the only pollinators, a real slap in the face for bio-diversity!   Nevertheless, it is estimated that bees are worth £200m to the British economy per annum and DEFRA is now planning to put some funds (rather meagre some would argue)  into research and strategies to help bees.

We can help bees also.  If you decide to keep honey bees make sure you join up with www.britishbee.org.uk , as with all animals commitment and responsibility is paramount.  You may have a more general interest in helping bees in which case you can sign up with www.saveourbees.org.uk , if you are involved with young children and education they’ll send you some nice resources.  All gardeners, whether urban or rural, can help to create a ‘corridor of flowers’ so that the bumble bee can migrate freely and mate more sucessfully, inbreeding is a problem for bee populations.  You need to create a succession of bee friendly plants throughout the seasons, here are some suggestions:

• Spring – bluebells, daffodils, flowering currants, bugle,  forget-me-nots, pulmonaria, hellebores, hawthorn and pussy willow.
• Early Summer – foxgloves, aquilegia, comfrey, fennel, geranium, pontentilla, snapdragon, thyme, verbascum , astilbe and campanula.
• Late Summer - delphiniums, single-flowered dahlias, eryngium, fuchsias, buddleia, cornflower, penstemons, sedums, verbena bonariensis, lavender and heathers. 

You can make or buy bee hotels, to encourage the solitary bees such as mason bees, or you could buy a bee box (all available from Crocus) to encourage bees into your garden.   Natural Collection do a good range of bee and honey related beauty products and if  you just want to enjoy some honey, then Simply Fair are currently offering a 10% discount on their Equal Exchange fairtrade organic honeys.

I don’t need much encouragement to plant foxgloves, they are one of my all time favourites, the addition of bumble bees crawling in and out of the bells makes them that much more special.  I hope the queen we found this weekend will be sending out her offspring to do just that.    

Here is a picture of Uncle Mike about to do battle with a birch tree.  He is The Man from Salford’s brother, he is also ‘A Man from Salford’, in addition to this he is a tree surgeon.  Now please, don’t start throwing green custard at me for this dastardly act.  This birch was much loved, its branches were just right for hanging bird feeders on. We could waste many happy hours viewing birds from the warmth of the kitchen seated next to the Rayburn.  Sadly it had planted itself in the wrong place and was beginning to interfere with gutters and the phone line, our only real connection with civilisation.   It was also shadowing the only part of the brambly slope that might one day be level enough to lend itself to some vegetable cultivation.  It will, of course, be replaced, hopefully with trees of a more controllable size and hopefully something fruitful.  (That might save a few Eygptian strawberries!)

Looking at this picture made me think about  the post of Willow cosily curled up in front of the wood burner.  Are wood burners sustainable?  I think the honest answer is potentially so, but not necessarily so.  It depends first of all on what you are going to burn and secondly where you got it from.  Trees are carbon stores and so burning wood will result in carbon emissions, there is no escaping that. Of course replacing trees at a greater rate than they are lost will soak up emissions.  People are often surprised to learn that the burning of rain forest is the highest contributor in the world to carbon release, more so than the entire travel sector.  However, the subject of sustainable forest management probably requires several dedicated posts in itself. 

For your wood burner try to use waste wood wherever you can, you’d be surprised how much of it is around.  We are lucky in that quite a lot of decent wood floats its way towards us along the canal. Make sure the wood can’t serve another useful life before you chop it up for fire wood.  Tree surgeons can be a useful source of wood though be prepared to split it yourself.  If you are buying wood (and indeed any wood product or wood derived product) make sure it is from a sustainable source.  The best guide is to look for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo on products.  If you are not sure where to go B&Q now sell FSC logs. I think some interesting greening stuff is going on at this store now, see their website for a fuller explanation of their One Planet Living commitment.

A log burner is the most efficient way to burn wood, far more so than open fire where much heat is lost.  Make sure that you shut the burner down once you’ve got your fire going, slow burning will radiate just as much heat as a roaring fire!  Make sure your wood is well seasoned, to burn most efficiently fire wood should only retain 20% moisture.  This will also reduce residues building up in the chimney, a potential fire risk.  Store wood for at least a year before burning, cover the top of the pile to prevent excessive rain penetration, but make sure it is exposed to air around the sides.  If you have a log pile waiting to be split, drill holes in the ends of some logs to provide homes for overwintering insects.  They will be your garden friends when spring arrives and you are no longer spending so much time in front of the fire.