Busy bee, 2020

A European Honeybee (Apis mellifera) 🐝 searches for nectar upon a Foxtail Lily (Eremurus robustu). Picture 2 shows the orange pollen covering the wings of the bee.

The honeybee provides highly valued pollination services for a wide variety of agricultural crops and ranks as the most frequent single species of pollinator for crops worldwide.
Habitat loss, climate change and pesticides including neonicotinoids have led to a global decline in honeybees which therefore demonstrate how important biodiverse gardens such as @rhshydehall are for conservation of keystone species.

Furthermore, worryingly, large scale migratory beekeeping and trade in queens, coupled with the promiscuous mating system of honeybees, could lead to increasing hybridisation and the loss of valuable traits shaped by natural selection (De la Rúa et al, 2009).