As part of World Bee Day the Horsham District is playing its part in supporting our all-important insect pollinators through special planting regimes and facilitating beekeeping on many of our sites.
World Bee Day is celebrated globally on 20 May this year. The purpose of this day is to recognise and acknowledge the positive impact that bees and other pollinators have on our ecosystem.
The theme this year is “Bee engaged: Build Back Better for Bees” with the UN focusing on the beekeeping industry globally, and urging bee-keeping awareness and the importance of bee-derived products.
Much of our fruits or seeds for human consumption depend, at least in part, on pollinators such as bees, butterflies and birds - yet bees have become increasingly endangered, with one million species now facing extinction.
Here in Horsham District we are playing our part. The Council facilitates bee keeping on many of its sites and only last month, in partnership with The Friends of Horsham Park, we won a national Bees Needs Award for exemplary work to support the development of pollinator plants in Horsham Park.
The Environment Minister sent a personal letter of congratulations to the teams on behalf of DEFRA, recording her gratitude for the exceptional work that we have done to help pollinators survive and thrive.
Photo: Cllr James Wright with one of his own bee hives.