on wild pollinators from Gord Hutchings
who talked about the range of pollinators available to gardens in BC. His ire had been raised by too much talk on the part of honeybeekeepers about the threat to food production created by hive losses, when in fact there are something like 800 different species of wild bees - as well as many other butterflies, flies and other insects and birds who act to pollinate plants.
This is not to say that wild pollinators are not at risk; they face serious problems from loss of habitat; pesticide use; large scale agriculture and monocropping which create fields too large for natural pollination; and loss of food sources through the replacement of native plant species with imported and hybridized or genetically modified plants. Because so many of our native bees are ground-dwelling, our fondness for pavement, pristine weed-free gardens, and digging over of soil are harming the long-term health of our gardens.
Afterwards there was time to look at the display items
which included some variations on bee houses; the one on the left is a mason (Blue Orchard/ Osmia lignaria) bee condo, the one on the right a bumblebee box. Bumblebees are our only native social bee: the rest are solitary. They are at risk from the same factors affecting all wild bees, and also from the large number of bumblebees brought in to service the greenhouse industry. Some of them find their way out of the greenhouses and pass diseases on to the native varieties through pollination activity.
The orchard mason bee condos are designed to allow the bee pupae to be removed and cleaned over the winter, to rid them of mites and ready them to emerge in the spring. Here is the device used to clean the cocoons (with sand):
and here are some cleaned mason bee cocoons:
(the black specks are larval excreta rather than mites which will appear lighter in colour).
And here are some interested GTUFers:
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