Protect our Bees!

Lily Charmed will be donating £1 to Friends of the Earth for every bee and flower necklace sold in August and September to help protect our bees, and support the ongoing safety and health of our vital bee colonies. So if you do choose from one our range you will not only be buying a quality piece of silver jewellery but helping the cause of these wonderful creatures.

We love this time of year when the bees buzz and the blossoms perfume our gardens. An English Summer garden is a beautiful thing to behold, and are a huge inspiration to Lily Charmed in our jewellery designs.

We are all very worried that bee numbers worldwide have dropped alarmingly; with harmful neonicotinoid pesticides, habitat loss and climate change all being factors. Bees are vital to our natural eco-sytem because they don't just make delicious honey, they are a giant workforce, pollinating 90% of the plants we grow.  Life as we know it would be hard to sustain without these lovely creatures pollinating our food.

We can make our gardens and green spaces more bee friendly by providing nectar producing flowers. Bees can see the purple more clearly than any other colour, so grow lots of purple plants, like Lavender, Forget me Nots, Buddleja, Alliums and Catmint. They also love herbs like Sage, Mint, Marjoram and Thyme which each grow attractive flowers as well as tasting great.

If you see an exhausted bee you may be able to revive it with a simple sugar solution (not honey). Simply mix around two tablespoons of white, granulated sugar with one tablespoon of water, and place the mix in a small container like an egg cup among bees’ favourite flowers, or on a teaspoon next to it, if you have found an inert bee – and this will provide them with much needed energy at this busy time.

No more than an egg cup’s worth should be put out at any one time so they don’t have excess amounts of sugar. The wildlife charity RSPB suggests small containers so that birds don’t dive in for a sugary bath.