City Bees Bounce Back in Breda?

There had been a worrying progressive decline in the numbers of insect pollinators (mainly bees and hoverflies) in Dutch cities. Results from a Netherlands-wide bee counting exercise, suggests the situation may have steadied (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/27/bee-population-steady-dutch-cities-thanks-to-pollinator-strategy). 11,000 people were involved in the National Bee Census, which finished on the 18th of April. Each volunteer, spent 30 minutes counting bees and hoverflies in their gardens. So this is 'citizen science', with all its pluses and minuses. An average of 18-20 insects were seen, in each session, by each counter. Rather predictably, Honey bees (Apis mellifera) were the most common (55,000 from a total of 200,000 sightings). There were markedly fewer of the insects who achieved 2nd and 3rd slots [namely, Red mason bees (Osmia bicornis) and Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris)]. The organisers of the census suggest the stabilisation of insect populations, is down to adopting a National Pollinator Strategy. The strategy involved creating 'bee hotels', 'bee stops' and 'honey highways' in urban locations. One must comment, however, that the pollinator insects of this study have very different life-styles and requirements. Honey bees are largely domesticated and operate from large colonies in hives. Red mason bees are solitary, wild insects. Bumblebees are also wild but live in much smaller groups in burrows. Hoverflies are dipterans and all these species are completely non-social. The 'bee hotels' are unlikely to attract Honey bees or Bumblebees but could be popular with a range of other insects (including Red mason bees?). It's good to see people in the Netherlands taking an interest in their pollinators! What they (the bees and hoverflies) really need are more flowers and less insecticide!