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So today sees the launch of the "Bee Part of It" campaign. Local radio stations across the Midlands have been given bee hives to look after. You can find all the details on your local ´óÏó´«Ã½ website and stay up to date by listening to your ´óÏó´«Ã½ local radio station.

On Midlands Today we're going to try and feature all of the hives at some point over the next year. But to start we're focussing on an urban hive in Wolverhampton looked after by and a hive in a more rural location belonging to . It's a town versus countryside competition to see who's bees do best.

Of course on Midlands Today we're already following the fortunes of one group of bee hives based in Highbury Park in Birmingham. Sadly over the winter seventy per cent of the bees died off. The beekeepers blame the cold winter and disease. It shows the problems our honeybees face and why the "Bee Part of It" campaign is so important. The more beekeepers we have the bigger the bee population. And a bigger bee population is healthier and more resistant to disease.

We're also looking at the state of our wild bees. There are about two hundred and fifty types of wild British bee. Most of these nest in the ground but some prefer to nest in hollow stems. So if you don't fancy a full-on bee hive in your garden you can build or buy your own bee "hotel" created from tubes about the size of a plant stem. If it's successful you might end up with up to ten species in residence including; red and blue mason bees, leafcutter bees and white-faced bees.

Although honey bees do much of our pollination wild bees still play their part and like their domestic cousins they are having a hard time. The story is one of general decline although one of two species have bucked the trend.

So it is a very important time for our British bees and hopefully "Bee Part of It" will give them some much needed support. Find out more by clicking here.

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