Bee in his bonnet about creating a buzz

Bees need help. Their populations have dramatically declined worldwide and in Britain bumble bee numbers have been falling for 60 years.

Last month two scientific reports blamed the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder on the use of widely used neonicotinoid insecticides which it’s claimed made the bees’ nervous systems more vulnerable to disease.

One of the reports from the University of Stirling, said there was “an urgent need to develop alternatives to the widespread use of neonicotinoid pesticides on flowering crops wherever possible”.

It’s estimated about a third of British cropland is being treated with the chemicals

Malcolm Walker will turn 70 in a few months, looks 15 years younger and is a one-man encyclopaedia about bees, their habits and environments. He wants everyone to do their bit to help the bees.

“One of my missions in life is to get more and more young people interested in bees and their world,” he says.

“Not long ago I took my little granddaughter Camilla along to see my hives. She was wide-eyed, as all children are, and I explained to her how the bees live, and how many of them there are in a hive.

“She turned and pointed, and asked ‘How many are in there, then granddad?’ I said ‘Oh, 2,000 in that one’.

“There was a pause, and she said ‘And do you know all their names?’”

Malcolm urges everyone “with any patch of land to think carefully about what you can put in to help bees and their work.

“Without bees and insects, and all their vital cross- pollination, the world would grind to a halt.

“And some farmers, sorry to say this, just couldn’t care less. Lincolnshire was once described to me as green concrete and I can see what they mean. Bees love oil seed rape – but it’s only around for a month or so, and after that, they have to find something else. Often, what else is there?”

Malcolm’s first encounter with bees came through a neighbour. “He was a wonderful old man called Mr Boden.

“He’d put on a very rudimentary veil, tuck his trousers into his socks and that was about all the precautions he took.

“What I saw was marvellous, thousands of bees, all moving as if by magic, and in the middle of it all, Mr Boden, this calm and measured man, completely in control.

“Except no-one is ever in total control of bees. They can be very unpredictable and you’d be a fool if you didn’t admit that you are learning something new every day.”

If you don’t fancy the idea of keeping bees, or it seems too complicated, you can still play your part.

Malcolm urges people to consider planting lavender bushes, scattering a few wildflower meadow seeds about, leaving dandelions in the lawn and planting ample amounts of borage.

After serving in the RAF Malcolm had a career in chemical engineering with ICI on Teesside. “I remember vividly the first view of Middlesbrough. You come up the A19 through the loveliness of the North York Moors, you go over the brow of a hill and it’s like looking into a fiery inferno.”

Later he moved to Doncaster where he stayed. “I thought about fishing, but I am a bit too fond of company to be stuck on the river all day and bee-keeping popped into my mind.

“It turned out that a couple of my neighbours who are small-holding farmers had a few hives and they got talking to me.” Malcolm is now on their committee of the Doncaster Beekeepers’ Association. Doncaster’s former Mayor, Martin Winter, is a fan and has persuaded the councils’s gardening division to concentrate on more bee-friendly plants.

The association has around 70 members, aged from the middle-thirties up to the seventies. “We all really wish that we could attract a lot of new blood,” says Malcolm.

“There are kids out there who don’t even know what honey is, nor what fascinating creatures bees are.

“A lot of people can just about identify a bumble bee, but they get confused about worker bees, which just want to go about their job without doing any harm.

“I knew a farmer in North Yorkshire who thought that he’d do his bit by turning over an entire many-acre field to borage. It worked perfectly – bees in their hundred of thousands. And then, one day, they’d disappeared because the heather had come out on the moor across the way.

“Bees will go and work one particular plant until they’ve got all the pollen they need and then they move on.

“The best honey I’ve ever tasted was a wild chestnut honey and also a honey where the bees had collected from a lime tree.

“To start, anyone can do it, even in a small back garden. It’s probably wiser to join an association. Each one is a sort of co-operative so that you can buy odds and ends and equipment less expensively.It’s a sort of rather nice club, where everyone has the same objective. “

Malcolm has eleven hives set in woodland about five miles from his home. “If you are thinking of setting up it’s wise and a courtesy to go and knock on the doors of your neighbours to let them know what your intentions are.”

He always carries anti-histamines and all bee-keepers have to be aware of anaphylactic shock.

Once the pictures on this page had been taken, one of Malcolm’s bees spotted that our photographer had removed his protective gear. It buzzed in pursuit and stung him on the back of neck.

Malcolm promptly removed the bee sting with his fingernails and the pain disappeared.

How to give bees the help they need

The National Bee Unit at Sand Hutton near York has warned that the on-going poor weather has meant there is a risk of bee colonies starving.

Defra has approved £1.73m of funding to continue the Healthy Bees Plan, a 10-year programme to address the pest and disease challenges beekeepers face.

It has fostered partnerships between the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) and beekeeping associations.

BeeBase, the National Bee Unit research website is at www.beebase.org/

Joining an Association will cost about £10 for an annual subscription.

To get started about £400 of essential equipment is required.

For the bees themselves, you need a laying queen, her brood and larvae.

You’ll need a bee suit, a hive, a smoker, and a little patience.

For further information: British Beekeeping Association, National Beekeeping Centre, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG.

Malcolm’s seminars at Walker’s Nurseries begin in next month. Details 01302 770 325.