Sustainability and the environment
My name is Dan, I’m a psychiatrist working with the Trust Clinical Sustainability Group. This is the first in a series of blogs about the environment and about sustainability
Many of us are worried about climate change and the loss of plants and animals across the planet. But I want to keep this blog positive, and focused on the things we can do to help, so I will be highlighting news and projects and letting you know how you can get involved. Also, I’d like to use this blog to highlight some of the overlooked plants and animals which live in South London. There is more and more research to suggest that knowledge of and valuing nature can help with mental health. And, the wildlife of London needs our help. So, let’s start.
I’m going to write about bees, as there are lots around at the moment and most of us (I hope) like them.
When most people think of bees they think of this bee:
The honeybee. For some reason, people think honeybees are endangered, and that we need more of them. Well, honeybees are not endangered. They are a farmed, introduced species (from China originally) who live n man-made beehives and produce honey for us to eat. There are millions of them everywhere. Unfortunately, they compete with wild bees and other insects for pollen and nectar. There's simply not enough pollen to go round. Beekeepers, to be fair, are starting to understand this and some are pushing for regulation and a planned approach to beekeeping, with a limit on the number of hives in a particular area. So, we should think of honeybees as we think about hens, or cows. I quite like hens and cows. But they are not wild animals!
Right, that’s honeybees out of the way. Now, what about the proper, wild bees. These are the ones who are doing badly and do need our help.
First, we need to be clear about what is a bee and what is not a bee.
Is this a bee?
No! Why? Look at those massive eyes which meet in the middle of the head; only flies have these eyes. And she only has two wings. Bees have four, although the two sets are hooked together so it can be hard to pick this up. Lastly, she’s less hairy than a bee. So, not a bee. This is one of our commonest hoverflies- Helophilus pendulus. She is beautiful, and I am sure I will write in a future blog about flies. But for now, back to bees…How about this one?:
I hope you can see he has much smaller eyes than the fly, and a hairy body. This is a bee. You might be thinking, “But he is not cuddly and stripey and yellow and black”. Well, most bees are not! Most bee species (244 to be precise) in the UK are solitary bees, who don't nest communally and are often not that brightly coloured. So, most people overlook them, which is sad, as they are gorgeous. This one is a leafcutter bee (Megachile genus) He’s pretty impressive, I think. I found him (appropriately enough) in the Horniman Museum bee garden.
Here are two more solitary bees- a grey-patched mining bee, and an orange tailed mining bee, and both photographed in the Horniman Triangle recreation ground:
It’s easy to overlook these solitary bees, on a superficial glance we can often write them off as honeybees. So take a closer look at those honeybees. Solitary bees are the bees we try to encourage to nest in bee hotels (although personally I have never had any luck with this). They are fascinating, but this blog is short, so we must move on.
Who is this?
Yes! That’s more like it, you are thinking. This is what we think of when we think "bee" - a big fat cuddly queen buff tailed bumblebee (note the buff tail and golden stripes) Bumblebees are fluffy, and fat looking as they evolved in the Himalayas 30 million years ago, so they might do badly with climate change, sadly. But the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT) are doing their bit to help them.
Our Trust are lucky to have the BBCT working with us. I’m co-leading an event on July 5th with SLAM Recovery College and the charity, to help people who are recovering from mental ill-health learn more about these wonderful animals, and also how watching and surveying bees can be good for mental health, and good for bees too. The BBCT want to get more people in east London, Bromley and Lewisham doing bee surveys. Areas of urban grassland, and especially “wasteland” and “brownfield sites” which were once built on but are now overgrown, are perfect habitats for our very rare bumblebees the shrill carder, moss carder, red-shanked carder and brown banded carder bees, as well as being magnets for other rare insects. There is a myth that “urban” and “wasteland” areas are bad for wildlife. Much of our rural “countryside” is now virtually dead, damaged by intensive farming and over-use of pesticides, which makes gardens in towns and cities, parks, nature reserves and wasteland areas even more important for our insects.
Learn more
If any of you are interested in bee identification come along to the Horniman museum plant fair on July 5th where I will be leading some bee ID workshops. If you miss these, please email me. If there’s enough people interested we could do a SLAM bee training afternoon.
Or look at the BBCT website where you can find out more, watch some bee videos, and perhaps even buy a little fold out guide you can put in your pocket to help you identify those bumblebees you see on your walk to work! When you’ve got the hang of the common ones, why not sign up for a BeeWalk survey.
The UK's bumblebees are in crisis - Bumblebee Conservation Trust
Think about your garden or team base too- is there a green area?- could you make it better for insects by either letting it grow wild and cutting it back at the end of summer, or if you’ve got bare earth, think about planting wildflower seeds in the autumn- such as foxglove, thyme, comfrey, wild carrot, clover and white deadnettle. And please do not pull up dandelions!- which are one of the most important urban flowers for insects.
You can get seeds from lots of places- but why not buy them from Plantlife? Then you are helping a plant charity at the same time.
Wildflower seed - for garden use only – Plantlife Shop
In the meantime, get out and find some bees!
