How to keep bees happy in autumn
By Hannah Stephenson, PA
If you’ve spotted bees in your garden during sunny days in autumn, safe to say they are still foraging for nectar to see them through winter. “My hive is still active,” says farmer and TV presenter Jimmy Doherty, conservation expert for Rowse Honey. “While there is sun and flowers, there are bees around.” As part of Rowse’s Hives For Lives initiatives (rowsehoney. co.uk/hives-for-lives) to protect bees, Doherty is supporting the brand’s partnership with Blenheim Estate – a five-year conservation project which will see more than 50 acres of wildflower seeds sown throughout the estate and 124 miles of hedgerows to replenish nectar sources and create new habitats for pollinators.
So, how can gardeners do their bit to help bees this season?
“It’s not just our domestic bees but our wild bee populations and all our pollinators we need to look out for,” says Doherty.
Only the young queens of bumblebees live over the winter (old bumblebee colonies die while the newly-mated queen hibernates). Honeybees need to collect enough nectar to feed and maintain the colony throughout the winter, he explains.
Photo: Rowse/PA.
“As it gets colder, honeybees won’t be going out to forage and they rely on stored food they have collected over the season.With bumblebees, the young queens will hibernate, the workers will die off but they still need to collect food [first], so that the queen has enough energy to get through winter. “The most important thing for bees is the continuation of food throughout the year. We always think of spring flowers and summer flowers, but what we can do as we come into autumn is also important.There are still lots of insects flying around and they all need our help,” he adds.
“Flowers in your garden are like a pitstop, and if there’s a huge distance from one flower and the next that has a detrimental effect, which is why gardens are so important for foraging bees and pollinators.”
Doherty offers the following tips to help bees as autumn progresses…
Plant ivy
“Ivy is so important. I was walking down the lane the other day and the ivy was in full bloom, buzzing with bees and hoverflies and also wasps. Ivy is a great giver at this time of year and the honey produced from that nectar of ivy is dark and rich.”
Photo: Rowse/PA.
Choose long-flowering species
66 | mccarthyholden.co.uk
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software