IT’S WORLD BEE Day today. That’s in the same week that keen gardeners will be glued to the Chelsea Flower Show, which is now underway in London.

The annual pilgrimage for the world’s leading gardeners certainly makes for soothing evening TV (Pimms on the lawn, anyone?) and no doubt, along the way, there will be talk of ‘oh, this plant is great for pollinators’ and ‘it’s important to encourage wildlife’ as the week goes on.

Vogue Williams during press day at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London. Monday, 18 May. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

But the difficulty here is that while the world’s horticultural elite are busy building beautiful gardens and habitats for insects and bees to thrive, it is all happening while the actual habitats of these creatures are being systematically destroyed.

So, no amount of prize giving at garden shows or international bee or pollinator days will make up for the destruction of hedgerows, the intensive farming, the spraying of chemicals and the rampant industrialisation that is truly threatening the very existence of these beloved creatures.

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But today, it is important that we celebrate the might and wonder of bees, the best pollinators in town.

Here’s the thing: World Bee Day was actually created for honey bees. It was named after Anton Janša, a beekeeper from Slovenia, who was a pioneer of modern apiculture. But honey bees, as cute and lovable as they are, aren’t in trouble. I’ve written extensively about this before. There are more of them on the planet right now than there probably ever have been.

The bees that are in trouble — the wild bees, the bumblebees, the solitary bees — don’t have a day named after them. They don’t have keepers. They don’t make honey for humans. And one species in 10 of them is heading for extinction. And that’s from a number that has doubled in the last 10 years.

I’m often told by my editors that my language is ‘too flowery’, and I need to be more hard-hitting when I present the case for bees. But I love flowers! However, today, on World Bee Day, I’m not going to use flowery language. No poetry. Because things are too serious.

So I’m just going to instead present 20 facts about bees that might change how you think about them — some bad, some good, but all facts.

Fact 1: World Bee Day is today

The United Nations have designated 20 May each year since 2018 as World Bee Day.

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This day was chosen as it is the birthday of Anton Janša, a beekeeper whose practices laid the foundations for modern beekeeping.

Fact 2: Anton Janša kept honey bees and hives

But there are an estimated 26,000 species of bees across the planet, and only eight of these species are honey bees.

Honeybee on a sunflower at the World Bee Sanctuary. Clare-Louise Donelan Clare-Louise Donelan

The majority of bee species are solitary bees, and there are in and around 250........

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