BBC News
By Helen Briggs
image captionBrambles are a big source of food for honeybees
DNA detective work on honey has given a rare insight into the foraging habits of honeybees.
Scientists used genetic tools to discover which plants the pollinators visited in the countryside.
They compared this with a study from 1952, finding big shifts in the wildflowers available to bees.
In the 1950s, honeybees mainly gathered pollen and nectar from white clover. Today, there is not so much of this plant about, so they seek alternatives.
These include oilseed rape and Himalayan balsam.
And there are fears that honeybees and other vital pollinators are running out of food supplies as wildflowers disappear in hedgerows and fields.
Taste of British honey has changed as bees become reliant on invasive plants and crops
Scientists said study showed how the growing use of nitrogen fertilisers and herbicides was affecting bee food sources
A honeybee on a bramble flower
Credit: Natasha de Vere
The taste of British honey has changed over the last 60 years, as bees become reliant on crops while native wildflowers die out.
Scientists at the National Botanic Garden of Wales examined samples of honey sent in from around the country for pieces of pollen which show what the bees were eating, mirroring a 1952 study which found that their main food sources were clover and heather.
Research is of tracked changes in the flowers bees are collecting pollen from
In a repeat of a 1952 study, experts used honey to predict flowers populations
The team say wildflower hedgerows and bramble patches should be grown
They found at the bramble has become the flower of choice pushing white clover into second place, but these are also turning to more invasive species
The places in Wales that now have to close as outdoor attractions are shut down
Some attractions, including the big Cardiff and Swansea Christmas offerings, will close over the weekend
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