The buzz about the bumblebee

Your report ( Plight of the bumblebee , 22 June) lists a whole catalogue of problems being suffered by bees. While it is good that attention is being lavished on this, I am confident that at the end of the day it will be found that the declines suffered by these insects boil down to one thing – habitat. My wife and I have been cultivating a large garden with a mix of flowering plants, vegetables, fruit trees and other foliage for over 20 years. Every summer it is heaving with insect wildlife, including lots of bumblebees. We have not noted any decline over the years – if anything an increase. Provided we water in dry spells, we invariably get great flower displays and heavy vegetable crops. We don't use pesticides or other chemicals. We have lots of resident birds and few insect pests. What problems we do have come in two classes – large mobile grazers (pigeons, rabbits) and certain soil diseases, which we work round. I'd love to open our facilities to any project to confirm scientifically what I can report anecdotally. David Mills York • I was delighted to discover bumblebees had set up home in a corner of our small garden. A pile of logs that had been fashioned into a hedgehog house, and is now rather dilapidated, has become a bee sanctuary. Ann Newell Thame, Oxfordshire • An earlier age may have seen what science has missed. "It is a common saying that the bees are idle or unfortunate at their work whenever there are wars" (Hampshire Notes & Queries, 1855). Gavin Greenwood Brighton