Result of the 2023 Dandelion Competition 1 May 2023
Thank you to all who took part and sent us pictures of your dandelion patches. The most we saw in one square metre was 116, in a patch photographed by Justine and Sienna Bentley. A big boon for the bees and a big well done to you but the record still stands at 272. We have seen dandelion patches whilst out and about this spring which looked like they’d be record-breakers but as nobody sent a picture in, we’ve not been able to award a prize for them.
Here’s the one from Justine and Sienna which topped 100 at 116 per square metre (plus quite a few other nice flowers too). We do try to count every single one. We’ll be sending Justine and Sienna some Pixie Post Lucy Clibbon colouring-in cards.
——
We need more Dandelions to help save Britain’s ailing populations of Bumble Bees!
Spring Dandelions provide vital nectar for hungry Bumble Bee Queens as they go about establishing their colonies.
***
Competition For Free Tickets To The Fairy Fair
Search your garden or neighbourhoods to find the most Dandelions blooms in a square metre, to win a prize. Can you beat the record, set in 2019 by the Cummings family in Kings Lynn, which stands at 272?
Email us a photo of your patch by 5pm April 30th or post it at our Facebook page.
The patch with the most Dandelions will receive four free tickets for the Fairy Fair.
How to take your photo:
Hold the camera directly above your patch.
Include a metre long tape measure or ruler and mark out the corners of the square metre with objects (eg a ball, large stone or a foot).
Check your photo before sending it to us at chris@fairylandtrust.org
***
The Difference We Could Make
As our infographics show (above and below) Dandelions are the source of up to 90% of the nectar available to early emerging insects and it takes up to 50g of nectar for a Queen Buff-tailed Bumble Bee to get her colony going with five workers. That requires her to visit over two thousand Dandelions but if every garden nationwide had a patch with 272, it could lead to nearly two million more Bumble Bee colonies, and as each may grow to 400 bees, another 744 million Bumble Bees humming about, over the summer!
Many gardens, parks, lawns, farms and verges have lost their Dandelions and Bumble Bees due to ‘weedkiller’ sprays, and mowing. A large garden with a 9 metre square patch at 272 per metre square could enable a colony to get going, or nine neighbours each with a 1 metre square patch like that could achieve a similar result.
Sources of data used in the infographics are at
www.fairylandtrust.org/dandelions-and-bees Competition closes 5pm April 30th.
The Fairy Fair features a Bumble Burrows workshop in which children learn how Bumble Bees create and look after their nests.
