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I've seen a decent amount so far. But I think you're onto something. All the bees I've seen have been buzzing around gardens with good flowers and weeds too that have allowed to flower. It pains me to remove some of the flowering weeds or mowing over them in lawns, customers just want to see it green or gone. One even commented today that he doesn't really care on the condition of the lawn as I suggested trying to rejuvinate it a bit, he just wants to look out the window and see green, sadly.
I once gave up a job in a hot summer when trying(advising) to leave the garss a bit longer. "I'd rather it was short and brown than green and untidy". Ho-hum, the customer's always right......
Agreed... although if the garden has a range of bee friendly plants then suddenly they all appear but educating customers is a challenge.....
from a pollinator point of view insects / bees are pretty unfussy as to where they get the pollen -- all they want is an easy to access flower - and then flowers for as much of the active year as possible -- wild flowers or weeds are no better than a good gernanium for example that might flower solidly for 6 months where as the wildflower / weed might only flower 4-8 weeks. In short where space is limited or normal / garden wise for pollinaters its best to have a good herbacious border over a wild area -- if you are wanting to encourage breeding/non pollinaters etc then thats different. People keep going on about bees and dandelions -- never have i seen a bee on a dandelion in my garden -- many weeds are a last resort / only choice for pollinaters -- they would much rather have a great herbacious flower
The bees that visit Dandelions are mostly the very small (like 5mm) soiltary bees. I met a bee photographer a few years ago - he grow specific "weeds", ie wildflowers, in pots because they attract specific bees !
loads of bees here bumble bees nesting in the house eves i have noticed 4 differant veriates of bumble bees in the garden
Same here. We had bumble bees nesting in the house wall, and also at my mums house. One of the larger gardens I maintain allows a beekeeper to have about a dozen hives on site and he says it's been a good year for bees. I have been fortunate enough to be there on two occasions recently when swarms have arrived, it's a very impressive sight and sound. I imagine it depends where you work as to how many bees you see, where I am I'm never far away from fields some of which the farmers are paid to leave wild.
Yes, there are less bees around. See more below.
I'm a pro "Wildlife Gardener", I trade as Bee-Friendly Gardening. For those of you that aren't "green" you wont be surprised to learn that what I offer is an extremely niche market !
I'm sure the general attitudes will change ( Gardeners World & Monty Don; The RHS, National Trust.RSPB,ETC ETC are ALL advocating a more wildlife-friendly approach); campaigns for wilder raodside verges are gaining momentum. I'm nearly 57 and can afford to be choosy but the general feeling is that MOST really 'green' garden owners do their own gardening. I'm lucky to have picked up some great clients over the 16 years I've been pro but the wealthy parts of Surrey where I operate are mostly full of the striped lawn/clipped laurel/block-paved driveway brigade. I agree with some of the other replies, most owners don't like the 'untidiness'.
Although the data is somewhat anecdotal, all the experts agree that bees are declining in total number and species variety across huge swathes of the UK. There are over 250 species of bee in the UK - just the ONE honeybee; 25 types of Bumblebee and the rest are solitary bees (the types that nest in holes and burrows etc). This springs late heavy rain may have drowned a lot of bumblebee nests but the wider decline is more likely due to increased industrialisation of our agriculture. I think honeybee hive numbers have declined by more than 30% in the past decade.
We used to have two huge laburnums in our garden which were always covered in bees when in flower, you could hear the buzzing from quite a distance. Over the years it was noticable how the bee numbers seemed to get gradually less and less unitl there hardly seemed to be any. I have seen a fair few bees this year as we have left quite a lot of strips in the lawn grow which is full of clover and I feel guilty cutting other peoples lawns when there are so many bees foragaing in the clover. It is definitely the same with butterflies etc there seems to be a huge and noticable decrease over the past decade.
It's a bit closed-minded to think solely in terms of insect life when it comes to domestic gardening. Consider the tiny fraction of the country that is made up of private garden space and what difference a weed-free formal garden actually makes in the grand scheme.
If a customer wants a green lawn it's not for me to mutter about wildflowers and bees at them! I'll gladly keep gardens completely weed-free, use the full range of professional herbicides and treat lawns for clover. This is business, and I'm not ruining the countryside or the ecosystem in doing so.
Just keep a sense of perspective.
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