wise words

Brigit Strawbridge Howard

on Rediscovering Nature

by April Thompson

Bees have been a portal to the natural world for me … everything is interconnected, and you start to notice the whole web of life.

Bee advocate, wildlife gardener and naturalist Brigit Strawbridge Howard was alarmed the moment she realized she knew more about the French Revolution than the native trees around her. Howard’s realization that she had lost touch with the natural world led her on a journey deep into the fascinating world of honeybees, bumblebees, and the often unsung superpollinator solitary bees, chronicled in her book Dancing with Bees: A Journey Back to Nature. Howard writes, speaks and campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of native wild bees and other pollinating insects. She lives in North Dorset, England, with her husband, Rob, where they love to bee-watch in their backyard garden.

WHAT FIRST PIQUED YOUR INTEREST IN BEES? Initially, apocalyptic headlines about bee decline and colony collapse with female worker bees leaving hives and not coming back alarmed me from a human food chain perspective. It happened to