Bee Creative in the Garden! Royal Horticultural Society and The Wildlife Trusts launch campaign to help wild bees

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and The Wildlife Trusts have joined forces to urge gardeners to do more to help protect bumblebees and solitary bees, heroes of the pollinator world.

The Bee Creative in the Garden! call comes as bees are under increasing pressure largely due to loss of habitat.  In the countryside, 97% of lowland meadow has already been lost and the dramatic decrease in suitable habitats isn't just confined to rural areas. The network of 15 million gardens that once formed 'green corridors' for wildlife is also disappearing at an alarming rate.

In response here in the south west Devon Wildlife Trust will be arming gardeners with the advice, insights and inspiration they need to create habitats that support wild bees as they emerge from their nests in early spring to forage for food.

Gardeners will be able to download a wild bee-friendly gardening guide. Wildlife events and a 'Bee Creative' photo competition will also be taking place from 1 April to 1 November 2017 as bees buzz during the gardener's growing season and then look for nesting sites in autumn.

As part of Bee Creative in the Garden! Devon Wildlife Trust is also hosting two events at their headquarters, Cricklepit Mill, in Exeter. The mill has its own pollinator-friendly garden and on Sunday 25 June, the charity will be inviting the public to spend the day exploring this urban oasis in the heart of the city.

Staff and volunteers will be on hand to give wildlife gardening advice and offer tours of the award-winning garden. Families can also follow the exciting nature trails and see what wildlife is in the garden by taking part in some bug hunting! Visitors will have the opportunity to put theory into practice and buy wildlife plants at the event to take home.

At the start of the summer holidays, on Thursday 3 August, families are invited to visit Cricklepit Mill for Devon Wildlife Trust's wild bee family fun day! Children can get arty in the garden with a range of wildlife crafts and explore the garden with nature trails, bug hunting and bee-themed games.

Bee Creative in the Garden! is the theme for this year's Wild About Gardens campaign - an annual joint initiative between The Wildlife Trusts and the RHS which aims to encourage gardeners to create wildlife havens for the many, once-common, native species.

Helen Bostock, Senior Horticultural Advisor at the RHS said:

"A healthy garden is buzzing with bees and other pollinators. By providing nesting sites and growing nectar and pollen rich flowers gardeners can and do support a wide variety of bumblebee and solitary bees."

Rosie Workman, Communications Assistant at Devon Wildlife Trust, said:

"We want to encourage people in Devon to take action and help our wild bees. Whether you've got a window box, a wall or a back garden, it's easy to create a bee haven and fun choosing bee-friendly beauties to plant."

The wild bee-friendly gardening guide, 'Get your garden buzzing for bees', is free to download and contains lots of facts about the different species of wild bee, their lifecycles and how they nest, as well as practical steps gardeners can take to help them.  It is available to download at wildaboutgardensweek.org.uk

Enter the Bee Creative photo competition! Gardeners, gardening groups and schools are encouraged to share how they've welcomed wild bees into their gardens by posting a picture on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram - using the hashtag #wildaboutgardens and the category being entered - of their bee-friendly area, whether that be a tailor-made bee home, a flower-packed border or a wall that bees have made their

own.

A list of the wildlife gardening events taking place can be found at

wildaboutgardensweek.org.uk or you can visit the Devon Wildlife Trust website devonwildlifetrust.org/whats-on

The Bee Creative in the Garden! campaign will culminate in Wild About Gardens Week which will run from 23rd-29th October. This will be a fun-filled week of special activities focused on how to help bees survive the winter ahead.

Buff-tailed bumblebee -  Photo copyright Jon Hawkins, Surrey Hills Photography (All rights reserved)

ABOUT WILD ABOUT GARDENS The Wildlife Trusts and the RHS set up Wild About Gardens www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk in 2009 and Wild About Gardens Week in 2013. It is an annual celebration of wildlife gardening and provides a focus to encourage people to use their gardens and take action to help support wildlife. Over the past 50 years we've seen declines in two thirds of the UK's plant and animal species, for a range of reasons, including loss of habitat. Many of our common garden species - hedgehogs, house sparrows, starlings and common frogs, for example - are increasingly endangered. Gardens have enormous potential to act as mini-nature reserves. There are 15 million gardens in the UK, estimated to cover about 270,000 hectares - more than the area of all the National Nature Reserves in the UK.