I knew that these creatures were important to agriculture, but just how vital and at risk they were did not strike me until I did a little research on the internet. The information is no longer contained to the green movement, but is increasingly becoming mainstream news and not just in the USA.

With an estimated 30% of food being dependant on the actions of the honey bee and the severe decline in numbers reported worldwide due to disease and environmental conditions, the need to support the honey bee is ever more important.

Support for bees is not just misplaced sentimentalism or the latest eco fashion either, the honey bee is the US’s key agricultural pollinator. As such it is worth $14bn to the country’s economy or about £200 million to the annual British economy.

It´s only now that scientists are beginning to unravel the clues to the decline of these wonderful creatures.

Perhaps if the death of these creatures made the headlines in the same dramatic fashion that Mad Cow disease did, with graphic images of ailing cows, then the public at large may realise the severity of the decline of the bee.