Bees and Climate Change

There's something utterly joyous about hearing the first bees of the year begin to buzz around the early blossoms. They are the small and stripy heralds of summer. Without these fat little bumblers carrying pollen from flower to flower, many wild plants could not reproduce.

Bees are such vital pollinators that the 20th of May is designated World Bee Day in order to help raise awareness of their essential roles in food production and also for the conservation of Earth's diverse habitats.

If you'd like your pupils to learn more about bees, LbQ's Short Read 'Do Bees Have Babies?' contains fascinating information about different types of bees, their life cycle and their importance to the environment.

Sadly, many bee populations are in decline. Some types of farming practices, the use of certain pesticides, changing land use and climate change are all having an impact on the numbers of bees.

In some regions, climate change is causing a shift in the seasons; bees can easily lose synchronicity with the flowering plants that they forage from. In other parts of the world, climate change has caused increased rainfall so fewer flowers bloom and therefore bees cannot gather and store the food that they need to survive through the winter.

If you're teaching climate change this term, then LbQ can add to your resources with three informative texts and associated Question Sets for upper Key Stage Two. You can find the Climate Change Short Reads here:

What is Climate Change?

Human Causes of Climate Change

Effects of Climate Change

Can Your School Help Out the Bees?

It's easy to 'bee friendly' in your garden or school grounds. Even just leaving a portion of ground to grow wild is helpful. Planting a range of nectar-rich flowering plants that bees can forage from is not only incredibly beneficial to bee populations, but it also looks stunning.

Here are some easy-to-grow 'bee friendly' suggestions:

• marigolds

• buddleia

• bluebells

• forget-me-nots

• poppies

• lavender