Secret lives of bees

Val finds out some interesting facts from a new bee book

- Val Bourne

I MUST admit, I am not really a people person! I’ve mentioned before that I’m a twin, and twins don’t have to make much of an effort with others as they have a built-in companion from the word ‘go’. I’m ashamed to say that I have never really got to know many of my fellow garden writers. However, I was delighted that fellow writer Jean Vernon scooped the Garden Media Guild’s Beth Chatto Environmental Award for her Daily Telegraph article entitled ‘Return of the Bees’. Too often, this award (and its forerunner) has gone to a writer who has tackled topics such as plastic and the oceans – worthy topics, I know, but not strictly gardening.

I didn’t realise Jean had also written a terrific book on bees, entitled The Secret Lives of Garden Bees, published by White Owl. To cut a long story short, we did a book exchange – I sent her a copy of my book, The Living Jigsaw, and she sent me her wonderful bee book.