Wild Dorset

PRETTY IN PINK Sally Welbourn, Marketing Manager, Dorset Wildlife Trust

Grasshoppers are pretty common in Dorset but every so often, a rare pink variety pops up on a nature reserve or in a garden. These pink ladies (or gentlemen) are actually a result of a genetic mutation known as erythrism, which affects the production of pigment – either a lack of the usual pigment or an over-production of an alternative pigment, resulting in various shades of pink and red rather than the usual green or brown. The gene responsible is recessive so it works in a similar way to albinism. It isn’t easy being pink, however, as these unusual grasshoppers are much more vulnerable to predation; many don’t make it to adulthood and have a shorter than the usual two-month life span. One family spotted a pink grasshopper whilst out exploring Bradbury Rings in Dorset earlier this summer and it was a great find for them as their son, Oscar, had been enjoying bug-spotting during lockdown!

Another pink, but more common view on our landscape this time of year, is heather on heathland. The delicate pink and purple flowers appear from August to October and are a contrast to the tough, wiry, sprawling stems they grow upon. Plants grow tightly packed together and can live for 40 years or more. Historically, heather has been used for many purposes, such as fuel, fodder, building materials, thatch, packing and ropes. It was also used for making brooms which is how it got its Latin name – Callunais – derived from the Greek word meaning ‘to brush’. Heather is easy to identify; the stems are woody and coarse, sometimes clumped together and close to the ground in exposed areas. The flowers grow loosely up the stem and the short, narrow leaves are borne in rows. Heather can be found on heath, moors and bogs and can attract all sorts of nectar-loving insects, such as bees, who can see the colours pink and purple more clearly than any other colour. Look out for heather on Dorset Wildlife Trust heathland nature reserves, such as Upton Heath in Poole.

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SHERBORNE DWT Gillian M. Constable, Dorset Wildlife Trust Sherborne Group Committee Member

Image: N. Roberston

It is with regret we inform you that, after taking advice, we find it necessary to cancel the September DWT Sherborne group indoor meeting. However, we are able to assure you that the meeting has been rescheduled for next year. Sadly, this was the meeting I was most looking forward to in 2020 - Christopher Legrand on Botswana and Namibia. At this time 30 years ago, we were on a safari, primarily bush camping, in Botswana and it would have been wonderful to relive the expedition.

The above picture was sent to me by a friend and fellow Sherborne DWT attender. If you look at the right hand side of the big bee, a much smaller bee can be seen with antenna protruding through the larger bee’s wings. The question was - had I seen something like this before? I had not. The photo was taken on a sunny day during a three generational family walk along Trent Path Lane. The granddaughter instructed her father to take a photo of the big bee and then her grandfather contacted me. Some studying of a bumble bee book convinced me the large bumble bee was a queen buff-tailed and a bumble bee life cycle suggested the small one was a male.

Since it seemed to be an unusual photo, I forwarded it to a friend with greater expertise, who in turn forwarded it to national bee expert, Steven Falk, author of Bees of Great Britain and Ireland. His reply was: ‘a red-tailed male trying to mate with a buff-tailed queen. This does happen occasionally. I don’t think it produces any viable offspring.’

It was an interesting identification and it goes to show that a quick iPhone snap on a family walk can lead to an unusual record. I always try to get a quick record shot and then, if there is time, worry about camera settings.

The latest BTO magazine : Bird Table - 25 years of Garden BirdWatch has the results for the spring bird watch. This is the quarter when we would have expected to see bramblings and siskins in the garden for a few days and we had not seen any. The BTO data indicated we were not alone in this. There were reductions of 78% and 45% respectively, from the number of garden watchers reporting their presence. Perhaps it was the very wet weather. There was also an interesting but sad report about chaffinch numbers that although they are still being reported in many gardens, their average number per garden this spring was the lowest ever - only two, compared to five or six in the past.

BEES AND TREES Paula Carnell, Beekeeping Consultant, Writer and Speaker

Did you know that to nourish one colony of bees, it takes one acre of blossoming trees, shrubs or flowers to thrive? This wisdom has been shared amongst beekeepers longer than anyone can remember. Does it take into account the current quality of plants and blossoms? Well, if it takes us 48 plates of salad to receive the same nutrition as a single plate 70 years ago, what kind of acreage do the bees need now?

I recently read an article from the Alan Turing Institute saying that civilisation is severely under threat and predicting that we have only a couple of decades left before life, as we know it, is irreversibly unsustainable. Throughout my adult life, there have been campaigns to save the rainforests, whispers of how many harvests there are left across the planet to feed us, soil degradation and intensive agriculture, demanding massive forest clearances. Before human dominance, we had over 60 million km2 of forests around the globe, and now there is less than 40 million. There are studies stating that humans have destroyed 35% of the planet’s forests and the remaining 40 million km2 have been impacted by people living around them.

Britain is tinkering on around 13% forest, whereas in contrast, beautifully ‘green’ – in all senses of the word – Bhutan, has 75% forest coverage. We really need to protect the few remaining ancient woodlands we have left in the UK. Shockingly, 108 ancient woodlands are planned for removal or damage under the new HS2 project. We will only see the true benefit of planting new trees after one hundred years – far from alignment with the Turing Institute's prediction. Keeping our existing ancient woodlands is crucial now for the survival of civilisation.

Keeping this article to the connections between trees and bees, as they are indeed intrinsically connected, as I write this, I am also preparing for an online webinar about propolis. This is an incredible substance manufactured by bees to protect themselves inside their hive. By collecting resins from trees, the bees then chew the resin, combining it with wax and honey, as well as their own digestive enzymes. The resulting product is pliable when warm (inside the hive) and the bees use it to line their hive, filling in any draughty gaps. In the wild, when bees live in cavities of trees, over time the entire cavity will become lined with propolis, providing a waterproof seal with antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiviral and antiseptic properties. Unfortunately, beekeepers found the sticky resin inconvenient as it was gluing frames and hive boxes together, creating a sticky mess during inspections, as well as a permanent golden stain. Bees were then bred to be less productive or interested in making propolis. Smooth planed wooden hives made it tricky for bees to attach propolis to, and so their natural defence was reduced. Could this also coincide with the increase in bee diseases?

By using only local queens in the establishment of the bee colonies I work with, I am finding that they are becoming more productive in propolis production; perfect for me, as I like to remove surplus propolis and

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make tinctures and balms. As propolis is very resinous, it takes a long time, and a strong alcohol, to extract the properties. I then use the resulting residue in an oil infusion to maximise the use of this powerful product. I have been lucky to meet and learn from many experts in the field of the medicinal properties of propolis. Firstly, one of my herbal medicine tutors, Luiza Barclay, who has a clinic near Salisbury. Luiza uses propolis in her medicinal practice. James Fearnley is one of the world’s greatest propolis experts – he lives in the UK and is a director of the Apiceutical Research Centre. His books share information on the historical uses of propolis by humans, intertwined with the latest scientific research.

Often it takes many years for the science to confirm what many traditional medicinal practitioners have known for centuries. German research in 1988 identified how the bioflavonoids in propolis stimulate the production of interferon, an important factor in maintaining a strong immune system. Propolis can be taken many ways: dissolved in alcohol as a tincture; ground into powder; taken in capsules and sprinkled on food. Luiza blends her propolis into balms and creams, and I have started to do the same – mixing beeswax and vegetable oils to produce creams for my ageing skin!

Attending a Bee Conference in The Netherlands in 2018, I learned from Karsten Massei the concept that propolis may be the bee’s skin. We transfer our human perspectives to that of the colony, forgetting that the individual bee is not sustainable without the colony. The colony, in turn, cannot survive without the balance of its members: a queen, workers and drones. If the ‘one’ is made up of 50,000 individuals, what holds them together? Massei spoke of the bees collectively breathing in through the spring and summer months, expanding, then slowly breathing out, contracting into a smaller colony through the winter months. Held together by the highly protective ‘skin’ of propolis lining their hive.

Marla Spivak, from the university of Minnesota, has bred her own line of honeybees that are resistant to major bee diseases, purely through the production and lining of their hives with propolis. It was at her university that an entombed mouse was found inside a hive. Mice often creep into warm beehives to shelter in the winter; bees will sting the intruder. Unable to drag a mouse corpse from their hive, they coat it entirely in their propolis, keeping the hive free of bacteria and viruses. These tales are shared in my book ‘Artist to Bees’, yet I have since learned so much more.

The connection between bees and trees is vital for their health, and also ours, so I am pleased to have initiated the #1milliontrees campaign with Madagascan Honey producers Ilanga-Nature UK. Their beekeepers are the guardians of the forests, protecting each new tree ensuring food for their bees in the future. For me nothing beats a deep inhalation when opening a hive, a combination of honey wax and propolis entering my nostrils and going deep into my lungs. Perhaps that is why beekeepers are said to live long and healthy lives…