Humming across our gardens and countryside, hopping from flower to flower, bumblebees collect nectar and pollen to help our plants and flowers survive. This process of moving pollen between flowers is essential for many plants to make fruit and produce more seeds.
Did you know that they play a big part in human survival? Bee-lieve it or not, these little insects are largely responsible for regulating our food supply. It is estimated that one-third of the food we consume each day relies on pollination mainly by bumblebees and other pollinators.
Although crucial to our ecosystem, unfortunately, bumblebee numbers are in decline, mostly due to changes in countryside management and agriculture. For instance, there has been a nationwide reduction in their favourite plants, and places for them to shelter and nest in.
Fortunately, the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust are working as hard as they can to protect the number of bumblebees and continue research on how best to help them. They have been doing many projects such as the BeeWalk, their national recording scheme for volunteers to monitor the abundance of bumblebees across the UK and Pollinating the Peak, protecting the Bilberry bumblebee throughout the Peak District.
We are delighted to work with and support the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, with our ‘Bee & Bee’ Jigsaw Puzzle.
From the proceeds of sales of this product, Wentworth Wooden Puzzles will donate £1,500 to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. It will help the Bumblebee Conservation Trust create a world where bumblebees are thriving and valued, as well as increase the number and distribution of bumblebees.
This beautiful, shaped puzzle was exclusively commissioned by artist John Francis to help spread awareness and remind everyone what they can do to help protect the bees.
"I watched a bee today plunge lazy in the blackthorn,
Bumble drunk and dozy in the blossom there,
Barging like a snowplough through the drifts of pollened bloom......"
“Wentworth and the great creative partnership that exists during the process of creating something like the bee project. It was a very interesting brief to get right. I only hope the puzzle-buying public enjoy the end result as much as I did creating it.”
-John Francis, Artist of ‘Bee & Bee’
If you would like to know more about bumblebees, including how to get involved to help protect them, head over the Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s website
Why not check out our other Bumblebee Jigsaw Puzzles 'Welcome to the Hive' and 'Bee Hall'.
