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26/06/2008


my photo

NATIONAL INSECT WEEK

This week is National Insect Week here in the UK, it runs from the 23rd to the 29th June. If you click on the photo above you can just about see the butt end of a lovely bee checking out the nectar in one of my foxgloves!

Honeybees in Britain are in decline. It is estimated that in 10 years time, if nothing is done to protect them, the honeybee will disappear from Britain by 2018, see Eco Home & Garden. No bees, no food on our plates as bees don't just make honey they pollinate more than 90 of the flowering crops we rely on for food.

Albert Einstein predicted that if something eliminated bees from our planet, mankind would soon perish.

Here is a list for plants for bees. I am sure lots of you have many of them already?

Don't forget, especially this week is - bee kind to bees week!

This post is dedicated to Life in Red Shoes. You guessed it, I have been out in the garden with my camera! Also to say to Lavinia Ladyslipper at The Birdbath Chronicles, I am still here!

14 comments:

Suburbia said...

I do love bees! I've been trying to get a photo like this recently in our garden but have failed so far.

It is so worrying that no one seems to be taking the bee decline seriously.

Suzanne said...

That is a great photo. I can see the bee, you have done a good job to capture it and what a lovely flower. Unfortunately we cant grow them too well here.

Sal said...

Lovely photos.
So sad about the honey bees.
I just looked around my mum's garden and have returned home with a very tall foxglove which had finished flowering and will be great for seeds...plus one or two other 'cottagey cuttings'.

life in red shoes said...

Ahhh, you're back! I have these lovely flowers blooming in my front garden at this very moment! I love all the old, cottage varieties. We also have bee problems here, but my garden is a safe haven! Happy Bee Week, may they thrive.

VP said...

The answer to the disappearing bees will be given in the last 2 episodes of Dr Who - allegedly ;)

Seriously though - a great post Louise and well done on capturing the photo of the bee in your foxglove. Like Suburbia I've been trolling around the garden for ages trying to get a similar shot and failing miserably.
xx

life in red shoes said...

Dear Louise, I'm glad that you like my TEA towel. I would be happy to send you one! I usually find them around Valentines Day, but I might run into them sooner!

Happy Gardening, Bridgette

Anonymous said...

I get lots of honey bees on the plot from hives keep by a neighbour.
Thanks for a good, informative entry. xx

Marie said...

Yes, we're losing ours, too, on this side of the pond.

Funny, I clicked on your bee before I read the post and admired its impressive pollen bags. Happy bee.

The Ginger Darlings said...

Love the photos of your garden. I love iris too and I think I have self seeded stinking iris in my garden. The garden is wild, but has some beautiful things in it despite being almost untouched for 16 years. I am disappearing behind a hedge of bramble and roses which is very fitting I think. My neighbour however have just gravelled most of theirs to beyond ugliness. Sometimes I wonder why people buy places in the country if they just want to tame them to look like suburbia.
But your flowers and frogs and birds speak of paradise indeed.

Simone said...

I love the bee and flower pic! Worryingly I have seen loads of dead or dying bees this year. They seem to be little baby bees. I love bees but I detest wasps! Now why can't wasps be on the decline instead?!!

Lavinia said...

Hello Louise, I am so pleased that you are still here!

Please let me know, why is my foxglove which I just planted last week, not doing so well? Does it need to be in full sun? Right now there is no sun on it till the afternoon.

I have heard about the honeybees and it is very troubling. Mankind will be humbled if it doesn't take steps n*o*w*....

Little Blue Violet said...

Bees re wonderful work role models. Anytime I have planted chineese forget-me-nots I have had bees thick as molasses all arounf them!
smiles
DarLy*~

Crafty Green Poet said...

The bee decline is so serious, I've posted about it on Crafty Green Poet and included a poem about it on Bolts of Silk too. I know that a lot of city farms and community gardens are doing what they can to encourage bees, but even so... 10 years is a shocking timescale...

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

What a cute little butt :).