Attracting Bees To Your Garden: Here's how to get your outdoor space buzzing with hero pollinators

Bees are having a tough time of it at the moment - but we can all do our bit to help them out.

It’s World Bee Day this week (May 20) which is the perfect time to see if we’re doing enough to help the important insects.

Bees and pollinators are important factors for biodiversity, as well as for the economy.

Declining bee populations in the UK - attributed to factors like land use, habitat loss, disease, pesticides, farming practices, pollution, invasive species, and climate change - are concerning, as bees contribute almost £700 million annually to the economy and perform 80 per cent of pollination which includes one-third of the food we eat.

Statistics also show that in 24 years, the UK has 13 lost species of bees with a further 35 considered under threat of extinction.

To help out garden paints brand Cuprinol Garden Shades have appointed their first ever resident beekeeper, Mark Douglas, who has been busy fostering biodiversity through the technicolour decoration of his own apiary, which have created happier and more comfortable environments for the nation’s most prolific pollinators.

And to mark National Bee Day (May 20) Mark has teamed up with Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director at Cuprinol, to share some tips highlighting ways to support bees and pollinators in our own outdoor spaces.

Here’s what they had to say.

 

Resist Cutting the Grass

Research has found that mowing grass less frequently (such as every two weeks) offers the prime landscape for a large bee population, thanks to their being plenty of lawn flowers and shorter grass allowing for easier access to them.

Dandelions are of particular interest to bees as a big source of nectar, especially in urban areas where their other food options are increasingly sparse. In the last 75 years bees and butterflies have lost 97 pr cent of their natural habitat but we can prevent further loss by growing our own wildflower garden. You can buy ‘bee bombs’ which contain seeds, soil and clay – just scatter on the ground and watch your wildflower meadow grow. By recreating these wildflower meadows we can make an important contribution to the biodiversity of Great Britain.

Use Bright Colours and Plants

Beds upon beds of vibrant flowers are not only gorgeous to look at ourselves, but also equally attractive to our buzzy friends. We know they are attracted to bright and beautiful colours, so filling our gardens with bursting blooms is a great way of welcoming natural plant and animal life into your outdoor space.

You can take this up a notch with the colours you paint your garden wood and furniture. Bees best perceive blues, green and violets, so decorating wood, terracotta, brick and stone in these shades is basically like inviting the bees to a disco in your garden.”

Become a Citizen Scientist and a Bee First Aider

You can rise through the ranks of beekeeping brilliance by extending your support of bees outside the garden, and become a citizen scientist and a bee first aider. Apps like Spot-A-Bee helps users get a better understanding of the environments bees like – this app allows you to observe and document any flowers, shrubs, climbers or trees and the bees on them, and contains useful information on such plants and the most common bee species in the UK.

Exhausted and hungry bees spotted in the wild can be treated with a mixture of sugar and water. With their natural food sources gradually more difficult to come by, this simple solution can work wonders for bees in need of an energy fix.”

Check Pollinators into Bee/Bug Hotels

“ou don’t need big hives in your gardens to provide a cosy place for bees to stay. Bee and bug hotels are available to purchase or make yourself, and provide accommodation for nesting pollinators. Bees can tuck up in their holes from the time its laid as an egg, until its ready to fly out into the big wide world. They also make for ideal winter homes for solitary bees.

Please ensure that any hives, bug hotels, or alternative bug residencies are painted on the outside and fully dried before giving access to bugs for use. Do not paint if these objects are already in use by bugs. 

You can find more information on how to create own nature-focussed garden with Cuprinol Garden Shades here.