Why do we get swarms of bees in our Thoroughfare?

Photo thanks to Karen Prime. Box with bees collected by Alan Witherby and John Symes today.

We have so many swarms in the Thoroughfare because they live in the large chimney opposite Durrants. Unless you capture the queen its impossible to get rid of them and we want bees around . However the swarms collected cost bee keepers money as they have to be fed and nurtured before the can produce excess honey Its an expensive time consuming business and we have to thank our enthusiastic bee keepers for keeping them.

​ Why we need bees
Bees are pollinators vital to our food chains. One third of the food we eat would not be available but for bees.
The limbs and mouthparts of bees are neat examples of adaptation and engineering.
The harvest from honey bees of honey, pollen, wax and propolis has nutritional, craft, manufacturing, and medical applications.
Pollination by bees is vital for genetic sustainability. Genes that have evolved in other animals are important to our future too.
In the UK about 70 crops are dependent on, or benefit from, visits from bees. In addition, bees pollinate the flowers of many plants which become part of feed for farm animals. The economic value of honey bees and bumblebees as pollinators of commercially grown insect-pollinated crops in the UK has been estimated at over £200 million per year.
Bees are in danger of disappearing from our environment. Farming practices continue to disturb natural habitats and forage of solitary and bumblebees at a rate which gives them little chance for re-establishment. The honey bee is under attack from the varroa mite and it is only the treatment and care provided by beekeepers that is keeping colonies alive. Most wild honey bee colonies have died out as a result of this disease.
Attitudes to bees must change and ou young people needs to be educated about the value of bees and the threats to their existence.