When I set up my honeybee hive, I had no idea I might be harming wild bee species. Now I’ve found better ways to encourage biodiversity, says journalist and author Alison Benjamin

I took up urban beekeeping more than a decade ago with the best intentions. I wanted to help to save bees from the many threats they faced in the countryside – the modern farming practices that douse crops in toxic pesticides and rob bees of wildflower meadows. My small back garden filled with bee-friendly flowers seemed like a paradise in comparison.

But what I didn’t know was that by keeping bees I would only be helping one species of bee – the domesticated honeybee, which doesn’t really need saving – and possibly harming others.

  • TalesOfTrees@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    21·
    5 months ago

    Or, just leave them. Hit them with the mower and mulch them right in. The leaves I mean. The insects are hopefully on vacation at the time.