Juanita Browne: Celebrate World Bee Day by helping our wild bees

We also need to protect the flight paths used by birds and bats — and the commuter belts which are important to our hedgehogs, foxes and badgers

Our native hedgerows are an intrinsic part of the Irish landscape and should be protected and managed in the most biodiversity-friendly way.

World Bee Day is coming up on May 20 — it's a day to celebrate our bees and consider helping them.

We have 100 species of wild bee in Ireland: 21 bumblebees and 79 solitary bees — but unfortunately one-third of Ireland’s wild species are threatened with extinction. This is because we have changed our landscapes so much, and removed safe foraging and nesting sites, as we ‘tidy up’ the countryside, removing hedgerows, mowing wildflowers and spraying pesticides.