|PIC1|Natural England is encouraging city dwellers to help revive the British bee population by keeping their own bees in a newly designed urban beehive, the Beehaus. Natural England has installed its own Beehaus beehive on the roof of its London office overlooking Westminster Cathedral.

Dr Tom Tew, Chief Scientist for Natural England, said the decline of the domesticated honey bee in the UK was “worrying”.

Bees are essential to pollinating plants and crops but are under threat worldwide, according to experts, with honeybees at particular risk of extinction without beekeepers to care for them in domestic environments.

Natural England believes that if more people in the UK look after bee colonies, it could make the bees more resistant to the killer diseases contributing to their decline.

“The decline of our domesticated honey bee is worrying, but it’s sometimes easy to forget that there are other pollinators, including more than 250 species of wild bees, that also need our help,” said Dr Tew.

“The good news is that there’s plenty that we can do in our gardens and churchyards by making a bit of space for nature and planting nectar-rich flowers.”

The Church of England’s National Environment Adviser David Shreeve has backed the call from Natural England after making a visit to Lambeth Palace’s 12 beehives this week. The bees at Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, pollinate plants and flowers across the capital and up to seven miles away.

He said Christians and people of all faiths had a “duty” to care for creation.

“Traditionally, bees are associated with rural life but the hives at Lambeth Palace show how bees can also thrive in inner cities – in this case only a stone’s throw from Parliament,” he said.

“At Lambeth, with its great tradition of beekeeping, the Church is fortunate to own grounds providing a home for bees that keep London greener by pollinating plants as far as seven miles away.”