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LAST UPDATE | 6 Aug
FU*K HONEYBEES! YES, I said it.
And while that statement may come as a shock to you, especially coming from someone like me, I believe I am reflecting the thinking of most people interested in genuinely saving the wild bees on this planet at this time. Of course, I wish the humble honeybee no harm, but if we’re focusing on them alone, it’s no wonder we’re in trouble.
Firstly, let’s look at the types of bees that exist. Honeybees are just one type of bee who make honey. There are many, many more species of bee species though, including bumblebees, solitary bees, leafcutter bees, mining bees and another group called sweat bees.
If you look up the great All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, you’ll find great information on the 100 bee species in Ireland and lots of detail on where they are doing well, and not so well. Yes, there is the honeybee, but we also have 21 species of bumblebee and 78 species of solitary bee.
I bet most people haven’t realised that we have so many bees here in Ireland. And yes, it’s confusing, but my aim here is to educate you and help you understand that honeybees are not the bees you need to worry about, and I apologise that I had to be crude to get your attention.
The phrase “Save the Bees” originated in the early 2000s and gained popularity fast. At the time, there were rising incidences of honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in North America.
Cases of CCD had also been recorded, first in Europe and then in Africa and Asia. These days, however, CCD is rarely reported, and the loss of colonies tends to be more a symptom of poor husbandry, inadequate foraging, other diseases, or climate variability.
And while the United States has reported record losses of commercial honeybee colonies over the past winter, there are apparently still more honeybee colonies than ever before.
Separately from the above, scientists have been recording the decline of wild bees (non-honeybees) for decades. A recent study found that approximately 25% fewer bee species have been recorded between 2006 and 2015 than before 1990, suggesting a decline in populations and potential extinctions.
But, because the honeybee is essentially agricultural livestock, the focus remains on it simply because honeybees serve humans in two very distinct and easily observable ways:
They produce honey for our consumption.
They play a significant role in crop pollination in many countries around the world, not least the United States of America, where more than 2.5 million honeybee hives are used to pollinate Almond trees in California alone.
Both of these have quantifiable monetary values attached and therefore sit at the forefront of political decision-making.
And so, for the longest time, “Save the Bees” has been inextricably linked to honeybees, the one species of bee that does NOT need to be saved. Just googling “save the bees” returns some of the most uninformed trash an entomologically-slanted mind could ever perceive.
While there are over 20 thousand species of bees recorded in the world, only approximately 40 of those produce honey. For those currently trying to work that out, that is 0.2% of bee species.
A good portion of the other 99.8% are ACTUALLY in decline and need our attention and help. Unfortunately, greenwashing by agricultural, beekeeping and other organisations, as well as chronically sloppy journalism, has made the honeybee a poster child for bee decline, and in doing so has done untold damage to the 99.8% left.
Let me be very clear about this. You are NOT protecting the environment by keeping honeybees. The reality is quite different. In fact, scientists now believe that high honeybee hive concentrations may have a detrimental effect on wild and native bee populations.
The opening line in a previously referenced article is rife with irony:
“As the world’s native bee populations are declining, crop production requiring pollinators increasingly relies on commercial pollination services.”
Let’s break that down. Humans, in this case farmers, take over massive swaths of land for agricultural purposes, effectively extirpating wild bees (causing local extinction) that would naturally perform pollination services for free.
They then pay for the pollination services of commercial beekeepers, who transport thousands of honeybee hives in truck beds to areas where the locally extinct populations of wild bees would have provided their services if they had been accounted for in the first place. The existence of these honeybees in such large numbers then has the potential to further adversely affect the wild bee populations in these areas.
So, in case you weren’t following. Free pollinators were exterminated, and to replace them, humans invented pollination as a paid service, which has further adverse effects on the remaining wild bees. That’s not innovation. That is ecological debt, pure and simple.
To begin with, stop equating honeybees with all bees, and share this message with everyone you can. Now that you know the truth, demand responsible journalism and call out lazy publication of the wrong messages when you see it. Never allow them to use images of honeybees in articles about wild bees; it sends the wrong message. Educate yourself, and then educate others.
Be part of the solution by incorporating wildflower areas into your garden. Demand unmown native wildflower areas in your local parks. Preserve hedgerows, dead wood, and bare soil areas to provide safe nesting sites for solitary bees and bumblebees.
Don’t hobby-keep honeybees in a misguided effort to save bees. It is tantamount to being horrified at the effect that bird flu is having on our native Gannet populations and deciding to keep chickens as a solution.
Ultimately, for beekeepers, it is crucial to recognise that hive density is a significant concern. This is a problem everywhere, but particularly when too many hives are located near conservation areas that already support at-risk bee populations. Honeybees can travel up to 10 kilometres for food resources. Bumblebees can travel up to three kilometres.
Solitary bees, however, will only travel up to 500m and are most vulnerable to ecosystem change and habitat destruction, whether that be land clearing for agricultural use or the introduction of livestock bees into their environment.
In a brief conclusion, and with respect to all those who buzz in the sky… please save the bees.
The correct bees.
Not just honeybees.
Brian Murray is the founder of microWild, a biodiversity project based in Blessington, Wicklow. Focusing on invertebrates, microWild provides areas for them to feed, breed, and shelter, including a native wildflower meadow, purpose-built microhabitats, and a pond. Brian shares images of these often-unseen invertebrates on social media and also delivers educational opportunities through workshops, courses, and walks on the microWild site. More at BlueSky and Instagram.
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