Inside the world’s first native bee sanctuary (plus, how to save bees)

Paul Handrick is a bit conflicted about World Bee Day. Which could be shocking, provided that he runs the world’s first native bee sanctuary and blogs and tweets as The Bee Man.

Firstly, he says, simply sooner or later will not be sufficient: with 40 per cent of invertebrate pollinator species, notably bees and butterflies, dealing with extinction globally, “each day must be World Bee Day”.

Then there’s the contradiction of calling to save lots of the bees on 20 Might, the birthday of one of many pioneers of contemporary apiculture, when beekeeping for honey is definitely a part of the issue. Honeybees, of which there are solely 9 species worldwide out of roughly 20,000 species of solitary and bumble bees, are extra quite a few than ever earlier than. Not solely do they compete with wild bees for the more and more restricted forage accessible, however additionally they danger spreading illness once they’re moved to succeed in new areas of forage.

Plus, they’re a distraction, says Handrick. “For those who take a look at articles on ‘saving the bees’, greater than seemingly you’ll have a honeybee image with it. It’s not accomplished out of malice, it’s simply ignorance.”

This ignorance ends in at greatest misguided, at worst cynical, makes an attempt to assist that see firms and people putting in but extra honeybee hives. “We must be higher than that now,” he says.

The best way to be higher, he explains, is by offering wild native bees with appropriate habitat with plentiful, assorted forage and letting them go about their enterprise in peace. Which is the place the Bee Sanctuary of Ireland is available in.

Handrick and his spouse, Clare-Louise Donelan, had been meaning to relocate to France once they stumbled throughout a farm on the market within the wilds of County Wicklow, on the east coast of Eire. They purchased the land in 2011, but it surely wasn’t till 2017 that the pair determined to set it up as a sanctuary for bees, dismayed by the detrimental impacts on wildlife of letting their land out for multi-crop farming.

“I used to be sitting in a subject of clover, questioning what the hell I used to be going to do with the place, and looking out on the bees all around the clover. It was a eureka second,” Handrick remembers.

The last word intention is to show the land totally over to nature. Within the meantime, they’re persevering with with some crops, however with wildlife in thoughts. Fields of sunflowers and phacelia feed the bees and different pollinators in spring and summer season then, left unharvested, present meals for birds within the autumn and winter too. “It sounds very simplistic however when you do the fitting factor for bees, it really works for species proper throughout the board.”

Handrick spreads the phrase about wild native bees and the challenges they face on social media, and presents recommendation on assist them (see field out beneath). “It provides me hope to see the worldwide impact of what we’re doing,” he says. “We’ve individuals from Mongolia to Colombia saying that they’ve modified their backyard.”

In terms of the types of native bees we must be looking for, Handrick concedes that differentiating between the greater than 270 species we now have within the UK isn’t any imply feat. Some you’ll be able to inform aside by their markings: the ashy mining bee has putting black and white or gray stripes; the red-tailed bumblebee has a particular pink stomach; and the widespread carder bee is ginger.

It provides me hope to see the worldwide impact of what we’re doing

Conserving an eye fixed out for explicit behaviour presents clues too: the seven species of leafcutter bees, for instance, are straightforward to identify flying from side to side with items of leaf to line their nests, whereas pink mason bees use mud to construct nests in pure cavities. End up an undisturbed south-facing patch of sand or gravel, in the meantime, and also you’re prone to see a spread of solitary bees digging nests during which to put their eggs.

“What we are saying to individuals is, don’t work in your backyard: go away the grass lengthy. Wherever the place there’s a multitude and there’s wild, you’ll discover bugs. Simply sit in your backyard and watch what goes on,” he says. “To avoid wasting the bees, we’ve acquired to like them.”