Bentham plant giveaway to save bees (From The Westmorland Gazette)
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Bentham plant giveaway to save bees
10:16am Friday 15th July 2011 in High and Low Bentham news
A DALES environmental group is giving away free garden plants in an innovative step to help save a threatened insect species.
The Feed the Bee campaign has been launched by Bentham Environmentally Sustainable Town (BEST), which has been busy growing plants that appeal to the insect since March.
BEST received a £100 grant from Craven District Council earlier this year and the money has been spent on buying seeds and compost to grow a selection of plants, such as the Foxglove and Jacobs Ladder, that attract all types of bees, from honey to bumble.
It is now hoped that these plants will fill the gardens of residents living in Low and High Bentham. The first plant giveaway took place on Saturday, where floral fanatics picked up their favourites. Another one is planned, but the date is still to be confirmed.
The alarming fall of bee populations has been recorded at up to 85 per cent in some areas and has prompted the United Nations to call for action in a bid to reverse the decline.
Pesticides, air pollution, mismanagement of the countryside, the loss of flowering plants and a fall in the number of beekeepers in Europe has been identified as reasons for the decline of the bee. .
Sue Arnott and two other Bentham residents have started bee-keeping and it is hoped the town will soon be able to sell its own locally produced honey.
"Bumblebees are struggling to survive. They urgently need flower-rich habitats in a modern world of habitat loss," said Mrs Arnott. "Further bumblebee declines could result in poorer harvests and sweeping changes to the countryside as wildflowers set less seed and disappear. This would have catastrophic knock-on effects for other wildlife."
BEST is still in need of Sedums, Michaelmas Daisies and Ivy plants. If anyone would like to donate they should visit: www.bentham.net/Community/BEST.asp The next plant giveaway will also be posted on the BEST website.
