"Hunger is killing them"

Starving Bumble bees near extinction across Ireland.

Bumblebees are dying of hunger and in grave danger of disappearing from Ireland's countryside and gardens for good.

The population of the most common bumblebees has plummeted by 14% in just seven years and a third of our 21 species are critically endangered.

Experts warn their loss will trigger a major crisis for wildlife and horticulture as they are our most effective pollinators and will take many of our flowering plants, fruits and birds with them.

Dr Una Fitzpatrick, who runs the bumblebee monitoring scheme for the National Biodiversity Data Centre, said their survival was in serious doubt.

"What's happening with our bumblebees is a huge problem. Hunger is killing them. They are literally starving to death," she said.

The plight of the bumblebee here is worse than in Europe overall, according to research published in the journal 'Science' this week.

 "There's lots of hanging baskets and containers about but the flowers in them may as well be plastic for all the good they are to bumblebees," she said. "Petunias, begonias, primulas and most of the bedding plants we like so much are useless as sources of nectar but that's what you get in the garden centres. If we could get people to plant bidens and bacopas, it would really help."

"Climate change is an additional stress because the bees react to temperature and come out of hibernation when it gets warmer but plants react to light and flower when the days get longer so the bees come out early and find no flowers around," Dr Fitzpatrick said.

"That's all the more reason why we need to stop tidying up nature and leave winter flowering plants alone."

The original journalist who wrote this is Caroline O'Doherty .

The picture was sourced by animals.net

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'Hunger is killing them' - starving bumblebees near extinction across Ireland - Independent.ie