Tastier honey from bees who enjoy the buzz of the big city

By FIONA MACRAE FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Updated:

We associate them with wildflower meadows, rolling fields and vibrant hedgerows.

But Britain's bees are happiest in the concrete jungle, experts claim.

Honey bees in towns and cities are thriving more than those in the countryside, due to the wide variety of trees and plants in suburban gardens, a National Trust study suggests.

Thriving in the city: A bumble bee hunts for nectar in a poppy flower in a Birmingham garden

Thriving in the city: A bumble bee hunts for nectar in a poppy flower in a Birmingham garden

And their urban existence may even lead to a tastier result as bees feeding on lime trees, common in suburban gardens, produce a more fragrant honey than the rock-hard variety that comes from the oil seed rape in the countryside.

It is also thought that bees buzzing around intensively-farmed fields may be falling foul of low-quality pollen and pesticides.

Matthew Oates, the charity's adviser on nature conservation, said: 'These are very early findings, but nonetheless, they are distinctly interesting.'

Researchers from the University of Worcester analysed pollen samples from ten National Trust beehives to see which flowers the bees were feeding on and whether there was a link between the pollen and the health of the insects.

At Kensington Palace in London, the samples contained large amounts of pollen from rock rose, eucalyptus and elderberry.

Hives at suburban sites, such as the university campus, benefited from pollen from lily, blackberry and rowan trees. These samples also contained some evidence of oilseed rape.

In contrast, some of the rural hives, including those at Nostell Priory in Yorkshire and Barrington Court in Somerset, contained samples that were heavily dominated by oilseed rape, with few other pollen types detectable.

There are fears that the pesticides used to spray oilseed rape and some other commercial crops are harmful to bees.

It is thought that the cocktail of chemicals disrupts the nervous systems of young bees, making them more vulnerable to disease and destroying their ability to find food and pass on the location of flowers to colony mates.

Pesticides, climate change and disease are being blamed for plummeting populations of bees and other insects.

The number of honey bees has halved since the 1980s and three of Britain's 25 bumblebee species have become extinct.

Insects contribute £440million to the British economy every year by fertilising crops, and if the numbers continue to decline, the country's farms could face a crisis, experts have warned.

Mr Oates added: 'Apart from crops such as oilseed rape and field beans, there are precious few pollen sources around for bees and other insects in modern arable farmland, and surprisingly little in areas specialising in dairy, beef or sheep production.'

Gardeners keen to do their bit should plant wildlife-friendly flowers such as sunflowers and buddleia.

Lime trees are also particularly popular with honey bees. Dry, sunny banks and warm patches of bare earth in lawns and borders are attractive to bees and some like burrowing under piles of stones.

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