Whether you love the sound of the honey bees pollinating the first blooms of Spring, or associate them with trying to get a piece of your sticky ice lolly on a warm Summer's day, there's no doubt that they play a fundamental role in our ecosystem. For such small, short-lived creatures, bees do a lot to keep the Earth in balance - helping to make approximately a third of our food supply, as well as keeping all kinds of spices, medicines and essential greenery flourishing. According to the British Beekeepers Association, the economic value of bees as pollinators of commercially grown insect-pollinated crops in the UK has been estimated at over £200 million per year; that?s a lot to be dependent on these stripy little creatures. Despite their importance, bees are in danger of disappearing from our environment - particularly due to the loss of natural habitats from modern farming practices, as well as the varroa mite that attacks honey bees and has killed the majority of the wild colonies. Our fluffy yellow and black friends need all the help they can get, so it's a good job brands such as Burt's Bees are making such a concerted effort to give their little communities a much-needed boost.
HOW DOES BEE POLLINATION WORK" If you can?t recall from GCSE biology, pollination is essentially the transfer of pollen from the male part of the flower (the anther) to the female part of the flower (the stigma). When the two meet, a plant?s seed or suit is formed. Although some plants...