Save Our Solitary Bees

I don't know if you guys all know but our humble bee population is under serious threat? Bees are not only hugely important in the human food chain, but also CRUCIAL as pollinators of wild flowers as well as being a keystone species for biodiversity. Beekeepers and gardeners have noticed that bees are less healthy and abundant in recent years than they have been in the past.  If this trend continues, it could have really serious implications. I'll try and give you some information here so you can help these guys out, yeah i know lots of people are scared of them but, they are so important.

Bees can be categorised into three broad groups as follows:

1. The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is a social bee that forms large colonies that overwinter. It can be kept in hives and is the source of honey and beeswax. A strong honeybee colony may contain about 60,000 bees
2. Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) are also social bees but their nests die out in late summer or early autumn. There are 23 bumblebee species in Britain but only about 12 are commonly seen in gardens. At peak strength in midsummer, a bumblebee nest may contain up to 200 bees
3. Solitary Bees - There are about 265 species of solitary bee in Britain, some of which are rare species confined to restricted habitats. Common types of garden solitary bees include some of the Andrena, Osmia, Megachile, Lasioglossum and Nomada species. Solitary bee nests are even smaller and with these non-social bees, each female constructs and provisions her nest on her own

There is no one simple answer and the problems facing the honeybee are different to those affecting bumblebees and solitary bees.

Several factors have been identified as probable contributory causes of honeybee decline. These include parasites, diseases, neglect and more recently and at the forefront of the media, pesticides.  Particular concern has been raised about neonicotinoid insecticides (eg imidacloprid, thiacloprid, acetamiprid and thiamethoxam). These are systemic insecticides used by farmers and gardeners to control a wide range of pests. Attention has been focused on this group of insecticides because they came into use during the period when bee decline became apparent and these chemicals can get into nectar and pollen. Some bee poisoning incidents with neonicotinoids have occurred as a result of incorrect application by farmers but there is no clear evidence of harm being caused when the chemicals are applied correctly due to lack of data. Some research has shown harmful effects on the foraging ability of honeybees and the colony size of bumblebees. Further research is being carried out to assess the extent to which these experiments reflect the exposure that bees face when they forage in treated crops under field conditions however this pesticide is still in common use during these tests and I believe lobbying should continue to stop its use until it is proven safe given the state of the bee populations.

Click on image to enlarge details

In contrast, the main problems facing solitary and bumble bees are restricted to forage flower availability and in particular loss of specific habitats.  The cool thing about this is we can all help by planting more 'bee friendly' plants and its pretty easy (and they can look pretty) to build and provide new habitats for them.

How to make a Bee Hotel - click here

Free Bee Friendly Seeds - click here

So if the regulators, chemical companies, governments and DEFRA don't care we can and its not that hard to do our bit for the bees.

Please help me fight for this worthy creature and join my #ProjectBee squad to protect the planet and our land for future generations to come.

Product Trial for Vanish :-(

Well guys, have been product testing another washing aid courtesy of the lovely peeps at BzzAgent, got some free Vanish Oxi Action powder to try out and have to say it has failed pretty abysmally in my tests.

I really wanted it to work as I have so many stained clothes from my rad mountain biking (well yes OK because I break my bike and fall off mostly but hey...).

Oh and also the packaging goes really nice with my purple hair 💜!

I tried adding it into the wash with detergent in the drawer a couple times like it instructs but found no difference to cleanliness and even worse found it left soapy residues on the wash and solidified residues in the powder drawer that I had to chisel out 😳.

I didn't give up though, I tried using it to ore treat some stains, mixtures of stains ranging from curry, mud, bike oil, sweat stains, blood and general muck. It didn't remove any of them whether old and worn in or fresh and treated immediately (although it did remove the latter slightly to its defence).

I even went out and bought a bottle of the liquid vanish to see if it was just the powder that I didn't get on with but testing it on the same stains I got very similarly poor results.

A couple of my friends whom I had talked to about the product went out and bought some using my vouchers and they also complained that no matter how they tried it didn't budge their stains at all.

So I am sad to say that I can't recommend this product and this is supported by a fair few of my friends that helped me try it out.

Has anyone else used this product with more success that can give me some tips?

Oh, and by the way, I switched back to my regular stain remover spray and it got all the stains out that vanish couldn't 👍....

Keep checking in on my blogs for more reviews folks xxxx


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Location:Durham, United Kingdom

Fab for Keeping Your Bike Gear Clean & Bright - Colour Catcher Trial

I've recently been testing out Colour Ctacher, by Dylon, to see how it performs and thought I'd let you all in on the secret!

So, you go on a long sweaty, muddy and grimy bike ride, get back home, strip off 'a la Levis ad' style and bung all your gear in the wash- do you separate lights and darks? No, do you heck, and what happens, you get pinky grey knickers and the lovely bright jersey colours you invested in to look rad on the trails end up all washed out and mucky looking.

Well, here's the answer peeps, chuck one or two of these Colour Catcher sheets in a wash and no need to separate any more, plus all your clothes will come out nice and bright and whites stay crispy white, fab or what!

So all that money you spent on flashy bike gear isn't wasted, and at around 8p a sheet they wont break the bank so I'd highly recommend trying these out. Saves time and money through less washes and also means you have more time to spend out on the bike enjoying yourself and no need to worry about fussing and worrying over washing when you get back home, just bung em all in, get your self a hot bath and relax!

Those are a few sample sheets I used in recent washes, to be honest there wasn't any new clothes or anything particularly 'worrying' wioth respect to colour running in there so I was really surprissed at the coulour that had leeched out, just shows why all our lovely white undies end up going a horrible wishy washy grey over time, amazing huh.

What do you think?  Do you or have you used these before yourselves and if not would it be something you think you'd now try- post me a comment guys and I'll see if I can get you some samples :-)

Motivational Thought For The Day

Hamsterley Ride with Josh-E-Dawg

Had an ace afternoon XC up at Hamsterley, took my dog Josh. He loved it and is now so tired he is passed out on the floor after having double helpings of dinner!

Was really wet and muddy up the forest but still fun as usual, nice cuppa and New Years' Greetings offa Joe n' Craig and the first official outing for my Loeka jersey and shorts and to top it off the infamous purple, Roots Cycles Beanie!

The shorts are fab, 2012 cascade DH shorts that are waterproof so for the first time ever my undies actually stayed pretty dry and the whole ride was enjoyable with no soggy bottoms :-)

A few folk noticed me modelling (lol) and got loadsa positive comments and thankfully nobody saw my quality 'over the bars' faceplant at the top of Nitrous where my 'blessed' dog cut me up and I flew off the top of the first berm.... ouchie.  Luckily the Loeka gear stayed in tact and withstood a high speed gravel slide in the mud. BONUS!!!!

PS. Of course, I fell off on purpose to test the durability....that's right (still laughing though)!