Dancing with Bees written by naturalist and wild life gardener, Brigit Strawbridge Howard, is a beautiful book with enchanting watercolour illustrations throughout by John Walters.

This is a book about awakening to the miracles of the natural world around us; learning about wildlife from wildlife itself; and becoming familiar with the native bees that visit our gardens and local landscapes. It is also about raising awareness to the plight of our pollinators currently under threat from the ravages of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides resulting from widespread use by industrial farming, councils and gardeners across the country. Whilst applauding projects that support nature such as rewilding the land, protecting forests and saving endangered species, Brigit brings to light issues that we may not be aware of (or turn a blind eye to) as a means to help us understand and appreciate the delicate balance between nature, our well being and the food we eat.

These important facts and observations do not in any way overshadow the love story that unfolds between Brigit and the bees she so carefully studies with such tenderness and affection, having rediscovered her connection with nature and having made a commitment to nurture this new awakening and help it to grow. It started with an awareness of bees and the discovery that there are at least twenty five thousand different species of bee. This staggering amount was a surprise to me as well, and even more surprisingly, within this figure, there are only 9 types of honey bee, around 250 bumblebees, 500 or so sting-less bees and a greater number of solitary bees.

Embarking on her studies, Brigit found that in some cases, it could take a whole day to identify one single bee and so a deep dive into biological taxonomy followed. Here we learn much about the way species are categorised, providing a fascinating insight into the meaning of names given to different species and how they are broken down and organised. Drilling down to the minutiae of every single bee, however, proved to be a somewhat laborious task and another more immediate and satisfying solution for bee identification came to the fore.

This was the discovery of Twitter and creating an account @B_Strawbridge where Brigit started to connect with other bee enthusiasts who were in the practice of sharing images and information, particularly when a new unidentified bee species cropped up. It led to learning about new ways to recognise different species with clues such as time of year, habitat and flowering plants in the vicinity which made it much easier to narrow down the search. It also added another dimension of enjoyment to the learning process, and certainly, with twenty five thousand different species to discover, you can never stop learning about bees.

And so we can learn much about bees as bee lovers when we read this book as well as a wealth of information about other pollinators, wildlife and wild plants which all contribute to the world of bees and demonstrate the incredible connectedness in nature and how different species support and compliment each other. There are many wonderful observations and stories which you can glean from the enchanting chapter headings such as Bees Behaving Badly, The Cabin by the Stream, To Bee or not to Bee, In Praise of Trees, Time for Tea and Cotton Weavers.

I had never heard of Cotton Weaver bees before (there are so many discoveries to be made on every page) and found myself falling in love - and who wouldn't when you read these words: 'A beautiful Wool Carder female beings to 'card' the silken hairs of her chosen leaf ... harvesting the fine, soft-downy hairs with which they line their nests ... I watch, entranced, relishing every single last second until she gathers her little ball of fluff and flies home, her prize safely secured in her jaws.'

Magical, enchanting, factual and fascinating, this labour of love is a wonderful introduction to the smallest wild creatures and how you can bring them into your world.

Sue Cartwright

Spiral Leaf

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Dancing with Bees by Brigit Strawbridge Howard