Garden centre bid to boost the bee!
A Norfolk garden centre is teaming up with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to raise awareness of the area's declining bee populations. Blooms of Bressingham Garden Centre is inviting people to get involved this weekend, when it will be hosting displays, handing out complimentary children's activity sheets and offering free advice about attracting bees and other friendly insects to gardens.
A GARDEN centre is teaming up with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to raise awareness of the area's declining bee populations.
Blooms of Bressingham Garden Centre is inviting people to get involved this weekend, when it will be hosting displays, handing out children's activity sheets and offering advice about attracting bees to gardens.
Centre manager Adrian Goodall said: "Bees fly from flower to flower collecting nectar, thus pollinating plants, which is essential for crop production, not just on a small scale in gardens or allotments, but also on a larger scale at farms growing food to feed the nation."
There will be free information and advice leaflets on insect-friendly products, and bee-friendly plants on sale at the centre in Bressingham.
A major reason for the bumblebee decline is the loss of unimproved grassland, with gardens now providing a flower-rich refuge that have become a stronghold for some species.
Local conservation group Suffolk Wildlife Trust is urging people not to disturb bumblebee nests.
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Spokesman Oka Last said: "Bumblebees don't swarm and don't 'attack' like wasps and honeybees. The bees rarely sting and, if left to do their own thing, will make a fine job of bumbling about pollinating vegetables, plants and wildflowers."
The UK has 24 bumblebee species.
