Save our bees… Starting with your school
To stop bees disappearing from Ireland we need your help. We need you to tell everyone how important bees are. We also need you to make your school and garden a safe place for bees to live.
Why do we need bees?
Without bees we won’t be able to grow our own fruits and vegetables, and our wild flowers will begin to disappear. We don’t want this to happen. We want to hear the buzz of hard working bees carrying out their important pollination work.
What is Pollination?
Pollination happens when pollen is moved from one flower to another by bees. Pollen is the powder that flowers have inside. They use it to make new seeds, which are tiny little baby plants waiting to grow. Some flowers have pollen that is so light the wind blows it from flower to flower. Other flowers have bright colours and sweet smells so that they will attract pollinators, such as bees, to help.
The number of pollinators buzzing around each year is getting less and less. We need to make sure none of these bees and insects disappear forever.
Solitary Bee (courtesy National Biodiversity Data Centre)
What Can You Do To Help In Your School?
We need everyone’s help. We need you to make sure your school becomes bee friendly. Some things you could do are:
1. Plant lots of different flowers in pots or flowerbeds around your school.
2. Plant a shrub that flowers in early spring.
3. Grow some fruits and vegetables like strawberries, raspberries, peas, courgettes or apples.
4. Let it grow! Bees love weeds like dandelions, so let them grow instead of cutting them.
5. Provide some safe places for bumblebees or solitary bees to make their nests.
Pollinator Friendly Plants provide food for hungry bees
There are lots of resources to help you help your school become pollinator friendly:
• Junior version of the All Ireland Pollinator Plan
• How-to-guide: Develop a Pollinator Plan for your School
• Presentations for teachers and pupils
• Quiz, films and posters
• If your school has taken any actions to help pollinators, you can add your school to the All Ireland Pollinator Map
Dandelions provide food for our bees in early Spring
To download a copy of the Save our Bees poster click here
The Junior All Ireland Pollinator Plan was created and is co-ordinated by the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
For further advice please contact Dearbhala Ledwidge, Heritage Officer, Kilkenny County Council. Tel. No. 0567794925 or email dearbhala.ledwidge@kilkennycoco.ie or heritage@kilkennycoco.ie
This action is supported under the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2017-2021 by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
