The Importance of Pollination and Pollinatorsby Christine Pilgrim TSSF

Environmental Officer for the United Benefice of St Bartholomew and St Lawrence with St Swithun upon Kingsgate, Winchester

Pollinators are a critical part of God’s Creation and purpose. This is a short and gentle look at pollination

and pollinators and the importance to our world.

It has been recognised that over the 2020 Lockdown period Creation has responded to the cleaner air brought

about by planes being grounded, cars parked and factories shut. Spring was a truly magnificent spectacle. As we

slowed down we became aware of nature unfolding whilst we walked, cycled, viewed our gardens, looked out

of balconies or windows throughout spring. Birdsong, leaves unfurling, colours, sounds of insects lifted many a

spirit. A blessing indeed. Of course none of this detracts from the awfulness of the virus and all its

consequences.

During this time I became more focused on my garden and pond and the creatures within those environments. I

joined various Facebook groups of like-minded people, learned loads and macro photography became my

fascination. As one thing led to another the creatures I was critically examining close up were pollinators. The

various species of bees I came across, particularly, caused me to research them and then other pollinators

became evident. I hope that this gentle look at what pollination is, why it is critical to our world and our

wellbeing will stimulate awareness.

Our Lord’s work creating our world and putting in place such tiny creatures, who work so tirelessly is beyond

amazing. God gave us plants, seeds, trees, flowers and fruits. With this gift of food came “the birds of the air and

everything that creeps on Earth” – animals that would fertilize and propagate his earthly garden. In other words, he

gave us a host of specialized species called pollinators.

WHAT IS POLLINATION

Pollination occurs when pollen grains from the

anthers (the male part of the plant) reach the female

stigma that leads to an ovary. The pollen is

transferred when small mammals such as bats or

animals such as birds and including hummingbirds,

moths, bees, wasps, butterflies, beetles, or other

insects, rub against the blossoms anthers and get

pollen on their bodies, which they then carry to the

stigma of a nearby similar plant. Most flowering

plants rely on animal pollinators; some rely on wind

to carry the pollen.

The pollen basket or corbicula (plural

corbiculae) is part of the tibia on the hind

legs of certain species of bees (honey

bees and bumblebees). They use the

structure in harvesting pollen and

carrying it to the nest or hive.

HUMMINGBIRDS as pollinators(taken from passionflow.co.uk including 1st photo)

They are often known as ‘hummers’ and are pollinators for many plants including Brugmansia, Datura,

Fuchsia & Passiflora.

There are over 330 species and they are closely related to swifts. They are found only in the Americas,

especially up in the Andes and also in the Caribbean.

They have proportionally the largest brains, longest tongues, smallest eggs and largest hearts in birds and

although we think of them as being very small some are up to 8" long.

Even in the wild they are thought to live ten years or more. These colourful birds are unique in their ability to

hover and fly backwards or even upside down, thus being able to drink nectar and catch insects on the wing.

Hovering is achieved by rotating the wings alternately backwards and forwards so that upward lift and forward

thrust are balanced by downward lift and backward thrust. The wings can beat 60 times per second, creating

the ‘hum’.

Daytime body temperature of 102°F to 108 °F which drops right down at night to near air temperature to

conserve energy. At this time heart rate can drop to 50 beats a minute. It can take up to an hour for them to ‘get

up’ in the morning. They can breathe up to 250 or more times a minute and heart rate varies from 1,260 to

2,000 beats per minute.

Often forked, their very specialized long tongues with many tiny hairs are curled into a tube shape to make use

of capillary action. They flick their tongues at high speed repeatedly many times a second into the floral tube to

reach the nectar. Those with the longest beaks and tongues can reach down long floral tubes that others

cannot and so avoid competition. The tongues, on average, have the ability to extend as far beyond the beak

as the beak is long.

Some hummers are “nectar robbers” and enter

a hole at the base of the floral tube that has

been made by bees, wasps, or other insects

who are known to use that technique, stealing

the nectar without repayment by pollination.

If the nectar robbers were human they would

have to consume two bottles of Coca Cola every

two minutes! (taken from Animal behaving badly).

BATS as pollinators

( taken from Bats Conservation Trust)

Bats are critical pollinators for plants of the American

Southwest, including agave plants, Saguaro and organ pipe

cactus. Many people are unaware that over 500 plant species

rely on bats to pollinate their flowers, including species of

mango, banana, durian, guava and agave (used to make

tequila). So, next time you drink some tequila or eat a mango,

say thanks to the bats!

The pollination of plants by bats is called chiropterophily.

Plants pollinated by bats often have pale nocturnal flowers (in

contrast, bees are mostly attracted to bright, daytime flowers).

These flowers are often large and bell shaped, and some bats

have evolved specifically to reach the nectar at the bottom of

them. The tube-lipped nectar bat of Ecuador and the banana

bat that lives only on the Pacific coast of Mexico both have

extraordinarily long tongues for this exact reason. The tube-

lipped nectar bat’s tongue is more than one and a half times

the length of its body!

While these plants rely on bats to pollinate their flowers, bats

also rely on the fruit and flowers of these plants to survive.

Disturbing this intricate system can have severe

consequences. For example, in Mexico, the lesser long-nosed

bat that is partly responsible for the pollination of agave plants,

used to make mescal and tequila. However, in the majority of

tequila production, farmers harvest the plant before it puts out

its flowers, meaning it has to reproduce through cloning. This

is bad for bats, as they feed on the flowers as well as

pollinating them. It’s also bad for the agave crops, as they lack

diversity – all tequila plants in one farming area have been

traced to less than a handful of clones. Disease has recently

killed off more than a third of the agave plants in some areas,

something that might have been avoided by allowing more

agave plants to flower and reproduce through pollination.

Pollinating is only part of their job, as one bat can eat more

than 600 mosquitoes in a single hour. Bats also eat harmful

beetles and other crop-decimating pests.

MOTHS as pollinators.(taken from BBC Science and Environment)

Over the past decade, public anxiety about the role of our

pollinators has focused squarely on bees. The fall-off in their

numbers, linked to changes in land and widespread use of

pesticides, has helped raise environmental awareness of the

critical role these creatures play in the food chain.

Moths, though, have not evoked similar sympathies.

“There’s this big misconception that all moths come and eat my

clothes. That’s not what happens at all,” said Dr Richard

Walton, from University College London (UCL), the lead author

of the new study. “Some of them happen to be visiting

flowers and can be an important part of the pollination

process.”

To find out how vital a part the moths play, Dr Walton and

colleagues monitored moth activity around ponds in agricultural

areas of Norfolk. They found that 45% of the moths they

tested were transporting pollen, which originated from 47

different plant species, including several that were rarely

visited by bees, hoverflies and butterflies.

The scientists found that while bumblebees and

honeybees are critically important, they tended to target

the most prolific nectar and pollen sources. Not so with

moths. “From what we see from our work, moths tend to

be generalists, meaning they’re not specifically visiting a

narrow group of flowers,” said Dr Walton. These tend to

be the open cup-shaped flowers like bramble, they can

access things from the legume family, the clover family

was also very important.”

Hairy bodies: Previous studies on moths have tended to

focus on their ability to transport pollen via their proboscis

or nose. This new work looked at the pollen collected

on the moths’ distinctly hairy bodies when they sit on

flowers while feeding.

The researchers believe their study shows that moths

complement the work of daytime pollinators by working

during the night and help keep plant populations diverse

and abundant. They serve as a form of back-up for

biodiversity, which in turn supports crop yields.

The vital role played by the moths has come under

increasing threat as they have suffered steep declines in

numbers since the 1970s. This is largely due to changes

in land use and the increasing use of pesticides. "This has

a knock-on effect for birds that feed on moths, such as the

cuckoo. Its decline is kind of tied to moth declines," said

Dr Walton. "Bats will feed on moths as well, so there's ties

to other creatures having declines in their own

populations, because their food supply, the moths, are

going down as well. You can see this kind of linkage play

out."

Helping the moths will require the use of less pesticide

and encouraging a wider diversity of plants in the

landscape.

But perhaps more importantly, the public perception

of moths needs to change.

BUTTERFLIES as pollinators

They are highly sensitive indicators of the health of the environment and play crucial roles in the food chain as well as being pollinators of plants.

The UK has 59 species of butterflies – 57 resident

species of butterflies and two regular migrants – the

Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow.

Though butterflies may not be premiere pollinators, their

continual flitting from flower to flower more than makes up

for the quantity of pollen they carry.

Another reason butterflies have not been taken seriously

as pollinators is because they are not considered major

players in commercial food crops.

BEES some history!

Apis Mellifera, or the western honey bee, has been loved for thousands of years for her ability to

produce honey.

The earliest record we have of humans using honey is a cave painting in Valencia, Spain, depicting a man

climbing a cliff to rob a swarm of wild bees. It dates about 10,000 years ago, just after the last ice age.

AMAZING DISCOVERY!

A primitive pollinating BEE infested with parasitic

beetle larvae and preserved in amber for around 100

million years is the 'oldest fossil of its kind ever found'!

Scientific name Discoscapa apicula was given to the

unique species of bee. The one seen below died around

100 million years ago in modern-day Myanmar, in tree

sap. In the same piece of amber is revealed evidence of

27 parasitic beetle larvae. It is an intermediate species

between carnivorous wasps and modern bee.

The primitive bee weighed down by parasitic beetle larvae

met its demise after getting stuck in tree sap. The moment

of death has been immortalised for millennia as the sap

overwhelmed the insect, killed it, and eventually hardened

into amber. It is the earliest evidence of a primitive bee

with pollen in the fossil record.

Bees are crucial pollinators that feast on pollen, but they descend from apoid wasps, a carnivore. But little is known

about how the animals transitioned to a pollen-based diet and what the intermediary animals looked like. Basically

bees are hunting wasps that have switched from a predatory and carnivorous lifestyle to one that involves collecting

pollen and nectar from flowers or evolving beyond that state to become cuckoos of other bees.(Steven Falk)

And mentioning WASPS!(Taken from gardeningknowhow.com July 2020)

Wasps are closely related to bees and are useful

pollinators. It may be difficult to distinguish the

difference between a wasp and a bee, but most

wasps are fairly hairless, while bees sport plenty of

fuzz. Many of our wasps have a characteristic

slender waist, while bees are chubbier. Interestingly,

the slender waist contributes to the reputation they

have in annoying our picnics in late summer. The

worker wasps struggle to digest the tasty soft bodied

insects they collect to feed the colony’s young, so

when they feed the larvae the grubs produce a

sugary spit that the worker wasps can drink.

Eventually the queen stops laying eggs meaning the

worker wasps have nothing to eat. This is when they

head out looking for rotting fruit, jam sandwiches

and coke etc. ( adapted from WWF)

When on the hunt for nectar, wasps can also

become accidental pollinators by travelling from

plant to plant carrying pollen. While their contribution

to pollination may not be as substantial as bees,

wasps still play a valuable part. Wasps are also a

food source for other animals – including other

wasps.

Since they protect our crops, make ecosystems

thrive, sustain fruit and flowers, and might help us

fight disease, perhaps we should appreciate the

wonderful work of wasps before we next swipe at

them with a rolled-up newspaper. They may be a

nuisance on a sunny afternoon – but a world without

wasps would be an ecological and economic

disaster.

(taken from an article first published in The Conversation by Seirian

Sumner, senior lecturer in behavioural biology and Ryan Brock is a master

of research candidate at the University of Bristol)

Some Mythology and early poems,

before moving forward to more modern

times!

Zeus and Greek mythology(taken from A world without Bees)

It was said that Zeus’ infinite wisdom was due to being

nourished on honey as an infant. The honey nymphs, or

bee maidens, were thought to be sacred as they had

saved him from being murdered by his father. Out of

gratitude Zeus gave the honey-bee its sting in unlimited

usage for its defence. Unfortunately a bee stung Zeus.

This caused Zeus to decree that the bee must die

whenever the sting was used as it had abused its power.

Greek poet Anacreon 2500 years ago wrote about

Cupid (Eros), the god of sexual love and beauty,

dipping his arrows in honey:

Cupid as he lay among

Roses, by a bee was stung.

Whereupon in anger flying

To his mother, said thus crying;

Help! O help! Your Boy’s a dying.

And why, my pretty Lad, said she?

Then blubbering, replyed he,

A winged Snake has bitten me,

Which Country people call a Bee,

At which she smil’d; then with her hairs

And kisses drying up his tears:

Alas! Said she, my Wag! If this

Such a pernicious torment is:

Come, tell me then, how great’s the smart

Of those, thou woundest with thy Dart!

Translated by Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

The Honey Thief

By Lucas Cranach the Elder (16th century)

Cupid (Roman) the honey thief, the child-god, is stung by

bees when he steals honey from their hive. He cries and

runs to his mother Venus, complaining that so small a

creature shouldn’t cause such painful wounds. Venus

laughs and points out the poetic justice, he too is small and

yet delivers the sting of love. The story was first told about

Eros (Greek) in the Idylls of Theocritus (3rd century BC).

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE BEES LEFT US?

“WITHOUT BEES HUMANS WOULD BECOME EXTINCT

WITHIN 4 YEARS”

(taken from Know your pollinators by Tim Harris)

WHY ARE BEES UNDER THREAT?

Seventeen species of bees are now EXTINCT in areas of

the UK as climate change and pesticides damage their

populations, WWF claims. Without bees pollinating, our

trees and plants would seriously struggle to grow.

New research published by Nature Communications

has revealed that 33 per cent of wild pollinator species

have decreased in recent years, with populations of

American Bumble Bees dropping by 89 per cent from

2007 to 2016.

An example of why bees are under threat:

(Taken from theguardian.com)

American commercial beekeepers showed that 50 billion

bees (more than 7x the world’s human population) were

wiped out in a few months during the Winter of 2018 –

2019. Bee keepers attributed the high mortality rate to

pesticide exposure, diseases from parasites and habitat

loss.

However environmentalists and organic beekeepers

maintain the real culprit is more systemic – America’s

reliance on industrial agriculture methods, especially

those used by the Almond Industry, which demands a

large scale mechanization of one of nature’s most delicate

natural processes. They argue that the huge commercially

driven proliferation of the European honeybees used in

Almond Farms is undermining the ecosystem for all bees.

All bees thrive in a biodiverse landscape but California’s

almond industry places them in a monoculture so growers

expect bees to be predictably productive year after year.

Almond blossom

Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation:

Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation is generally thought

to be the most important factor driving bee declines through the

reduction of food and nesting resources available to pollinators.

In the UK an estimated 97 per cent of unimproved grassland was

lost in England and Wales between 1932 and 1984 (Fuller 1987).

These losses are as a result of changes in agricultural methods

such as re-seeding, intensive tillage, drainage, and use of

fertilisers and herbicides as well as the development of previously

species rich grassland. This loss of unimproved flower-rich

grassland leads removes habitats for bees.

Interesting fact: In the 1980s the uncontrolled use of

pesticides killed off honeybees in southern Sichuan. The

pear trees have to be pollinated by hand. This is a

seriously labour intensive process for humans, where one

bee colony might take care of three million flowers a day.

Pesticides and pollution

Bees are worth £690m a year to the UK economy

including in apple production

Neonicotinoids are neuro-active chemicals similar to

nicotine that have proved to be highly effective at

protecting crops from pests, especially aphids and root-

eating grubs.

They can either be sprayed on leaves or coated on seeds,

in which case they infiltrate every part of the growing plant.

Years of research have shown that under controlled

conditions the chemicals are toxic to honey bees and

bumblebees, causing brain damage that can affect

learning and memory and impair their ability to forage for

nectar and pollen.

The chemicals are a key battleground in the environmental

movement – with campaigners demanding a ‘complete and

permanent’ ban on the pesticides as they are suspected to

be harmful to bees.

Climate change

Alterations in insect distributions in the UK are already being seen in

response to recent climate change.

Climate change may also aid the natural colonisation of new species, as

has already been seen in Britain with bees such as Grey-backed mining

bee, Early colletes, Ivy colletes and Variable nomad.

Climate change also has the potential to decrease bee population

abundance, shift habitat ranges and ultimately increase extinction risk.

These effects are worse for specialist or species found in single habitats,

and small, isolated populations.

Climate change is widely predicted to increase extreme events such as

summer droughts, flooding and storms, all of which could directly impact

bees in the East of England.

BUMBLE BEES HONEY BEESFatter and furry. Smaller and slim like a wasp.25 different species in UK. Only 1 species in Europe.

Different species have different length tongues so

feed from different shaped flowers.All HBs have short tongues so prefer open flowers.

Lives in nests with 50-400 bees. Lives in hives with 20 - 60,000 .

Only the queen hibernates, in a hole in the ground. The queen can live for 3-4 years.

Live in the wilderness, garden and countryside. HBs live in hives.

BBs only make a small amount honey-like sustance

to eat themselves.

Most HBs make lots of honey which the beekeeper

can harvest.

BB populations are declining mainly due to a

shortage of flowers to feed and places to rest in the

countyside.

HBs are mainly declining due to disease and mites.

They sting more than once but only if aggravated.HBs die after they have stung, as their stinger is

barbed.

BBs don’t dance but communicate by passing pollen

between the worker bees.

HBs use a wiggle dance to communicate flower

locations.

Suggested early planting to encourage

emerging bees:

Crocus, hyacinth, borage (one of fastest flowers to

replenish nectar in its flowers), calendula, wild lilac,

dandelions ( 50% of nectar is from dandelions), mahonia,

hellebores, pulmonaria (lungwort), ribes ( flowering

currant) heather, lily of the valley.Borage

Later planting suggestions:

Salvia, nepeta, scabiosis, geranium, hebe, thyme,

cotoneaster, rosemary, oregano, lavender, hyssop,

marjoram, campanula, agapanthus, clover (30% of nectar

is from clover) foxgloves, roses, vetch, knapweed, thistles.

Meadow vetchling

To find out more and/or to get involved:

Do join the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and see the educational resources available, including a new bee

ID app and YouTube tutorials – at www.bumblebeeconservation.org which has a Bee-Kind tool enabling you

to see how many points your current planting gets plus, lots of information to improve your score.

If on Facebook do join the group – Bumble Bee Enthusiasts (recommended!)

There are many books available, examples are:

A world without bees by Alison Benjamin and Brian Mcallum

Know your pollinators by Tim Harris

RSPB Id Spotlight – Bees

Field Guide to Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland by Mike Edwards and Martin Jenner

The Little Book of British Bumblebees by Paul Duffield

RSPB First book of Butterflies and Moths

The Garden Jungle: or Gardening to save the Planet by Dave Goulson

PS If there is no pond in the garden please do leave a shallow dish with water and place some

stones/pebbles for creatures to be able to get out should they fall in.

Thinking of an Insect Hotel / Bee Hotel ?

The concept is good but there are pitfalls if the correct designs, maintenance and a nurturing environment

are not observed eg: parasitism causing a higher loss of solitary bees when kleptoparasites lay their eggs in

the tubes or cells and kill the bee larvae inside. Parasitic wasps or flies can attack red mason bees.

Mould can be caused when moisture condenses and gets trapped.

HOWEVER:

a) Look at the type of insect you wish to host .

Only 3 types of bees are tube nesters, namely Red Mason Bees, Leafcutter Bees and Bell Bees.

These bees require tubes 2mm to 10mm in diameter.

b) Look at where the hotel will go. Needs to be dry and in full sun.

c) Choose a responsible design and install it well, at least a metre off the ground with no vegetation in front

and fixed, so it doesn’t move.

d) Maintain it and clean at the end of summer.

(Taken from entomologistslounge.wordpress.com)

We have over 270 species of bee in Britain and Ireland and bumblebees and the Honey Bee account for

only 1/10th of that figure. The fantastic news is that the increasing popularity of wildlife gardening and bee

hotels means that gardens are now one of the few habitats where bee numbers might actually be increasing.

BUT PLEASE BE AWARE:

Research has emerged showing bee-harming chemicals can be found in some garden centre plants. It was

conducted by Professor Dave Goulson and colleagues (he founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2006

and is the author of the acclaimed books Sting in the Tale and A Buzz in the Meadow).

The research team purchased 29 different plants from a range of nationally widespread outlets. They tested all

the plants and found only 2 plants had no traces of pesticides or chemicals. 70% actually contained

neonicotinoids, the systemic pesticides that have been widely shown to cause damage to bees. The pesticides

were found on the leaves, in the pollen and also the nectar.

The best thing to do is ask the seller about their policy on neonicotinoids, if you are concerned, walk away.

BEES HOLD A SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE FOR HUMANITY

Bees are present in 71 Bible Verses, far too many to list here. There are also 61 verses using honey in 23

books of the Bible.

Bees and Monks go back a long way with the bees helping to teach monks how to dedicate their lives for

the good of the whole as the worker bees dedicate themselves for the good of their colony. Monasteries

often kept bees as a valuable source of sugar/honey and wax for making candles.

For example in Devon, Buckfast Abbey (Benedictine), apiaries have 40 hives each acting as homes to up

to 80,000 bees during the summer months. Around a three mile radius of the abbey there maybe three

million bees fulfilling that crucial link by pollinating flowering plants that in turn produce seeds, nuts, fruit

and vegetables.

Furthermore, the research in which the Abbey is involved includes combatting the varroa parasite that has

done so much damage to the British bee population since it emerged in this country in 1993.

St Benedict is the patron of bee-keepers. In some parts of France apparently it was, and may be still is,

customary for bee-keepers to have a medal of St Benedict affixed to their hives.

I do hope that you have found the subject of pollination and

pollinators as interesting as I have found researching it.

Christine Pilgrim TSSF

Environmental Officer for the United Benefice of St Bartholomew and St Lawrence with St Swithun upon Kingsgate, Winchester