So we're back from the exhibit, and it is true to say that all of the team thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was tiring but well worth it!
We made over 500 bee houses for the visitors to take away, meaning that throughout the country there are 500 new bee guardians. All that is required is to hang you bee house near some flowers, south facing and above a metre off the ground. Fingers crossed the solitary bees won't be able to resist.
Why do we need to conserve them?
I found that our visitors had never heard of solitary bees, so I thought I would fill you in as well. Solitary bees live on their own as the name suggests, they are much much smaller than honey or bumble bees and are actually the best pollinators out of the 3 types of bee (1 solitary bee will do the same job as 120 honey bees when it comes to pollination). They also loved the fact that they rarely sting.
Currently they are in decline for various reasons ranging from the use of pesticides to the effects of mobile phone signals. As they are the best pollinators they are vital in producing the food that we eat and maintaining their part in the ecosystem is vital.
If you do have some guests come to stay in your bee houses, perhaps you could give us a hand with the Global Bee Project's survey found here.
So this is the end of our exhibit but it is by no means the end of our experiment. Observations of our bee houses will be made and we are thinking of new ways to make the school even more bee friendly.
Thank you for coming to visit us and thanks to the Royal Society for having us. We enjoyed every minute!
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