Bee Friendly

In 2015, bee experts in Ireland came together to produce the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. They did this because our pollinators, especially our bees, are in big trouble. We need bees in order to grow our fruit and veg, and to make sure our countryside has lots of beautiful wildflowers. There are 99 species of bee in Ireland – 1 species of honeybee, 21 species of bumblebee and 77 species of solitary bee. The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan for 2021-2025 is a new five-year road map that aims to help bees, other pollinating insects and our wider biodiversity. 

TY Ag Science students in Kinsale CS are helping to do their bit to encourage more bees on the campus. In collaboration with Mr. Brendan Barry we have identified 2 areas of the grounds that are pollinator friendly – they have Dandelions and Clover already growing as well as long grass. These areas will be allowed to grow over the Summer months and not treated with pesticides or herbicides. Signage will be in place to indicate that these areas are “Managed for Wildlife” – very often passers-by assume such areas are not looked after and can give a bad impression! What we see as an untidy garden is heaven for bees and other insects. The principle of “Don’t mow, Let it Grow” is still relatively new to Irish people and will take some time to embed into our psyche.

The second action we are taking is to provide nesting sites for wild bees. Having walked the school grounds we noticed that we already have sites that mining solitary bees are nesting in – they like bare soil. To cater for nesting solitary bees, we have made some bee hotels, with the guidance of woodwork teachers Mr. Duggan and Mr. C Ó Donnabháin. These are simply made by drilling different size holes into a piece of untreated timber. During the Summer, the female lays her eggs in these nesting sites and then stores up pollen in them. In the Autumn when the eggs hatch, the larvae have this food to eat, before hibernating for the Winter.

Students also surveyed the school grounds to identify what type of plants are already providing food for bees. The map of the school grounds shows the locations where we already have many pollinator friendly plants. These include Red clover, Hebe, Lavender and of course Dandelions! For anyone considering their Summer planting scheme, the following are pollinator friendly – Lavender, Catmint, Foxglove, Verbena and Lamb’s ear, to name just a few. We hope that by taking these two small actions that we will help the bee population in our community and increase biodiversity. We look forward to examining the bee hotels in September to see if they were occupied over the Summer. Check out www.pollinators.ie for more info.      

#BeeFriendly this Summer

Ms. Dullea