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Wild Bees and Honeybees

It's been an eventful week on the bee front chez Mann. I'm without my honeybees as we're still house sitting, so a friend is looking after them. I did bring a spare box with us though, which I used as a bait hive last year. I filled it with old comb and even sprayed it with a (French made!) pheromone aerosol to attract any passing swarm. It didn't work then but it did this week, although it might have been more convenient if I hadn't left it just outside the kitchen door! A local beekeeping friend was delighted to come and pick up the hived swarm, which seemed very well mannered. Hurrah! Next to the bait hive my broad beans were being pollinated not by the honeybees, but by some friendly carder bees. It turns out that wild bees like this bumblebee are more important pollinators than many had thought. I'd been puzzled by this; you hear a lot about honeybee declines at the same time as the volume of crops grown in the UK requiring insect pollination is actually rising, as are yields. According to a study just released by the University of Reading (Pollination Services in the UK: How important are Honeybees? ) it's wild bees wot done it:
The findings indicate that insect pollinated crops have become increasingly important in UK crop agriculture and, as of 2007, accounted for 20% of UK cropland and 19% of total farmgate crop value. Analysis of honeybee hive numbers indicates that current UK populations are only capable of supplying 34% of pollination service demands even under favourable assumptions, falling from 70% in 1984. Inspite of this decline, insect pollinated crop yields have risen by an average of 54% since 1984, casting doubt on long held beliefs that honeybees provide the majority of pollination services. Future land use and crop production patterns may further increase the role of pollination services to UK agriculture, highlighting the importance of measures aimed at maintaining both wild and managed species.