SIR – Full marks to the Co-operative for its Plan Bee campaign, which is being trialed in Yorkshire.

It is shocking to read that the UK has lost 97 per cent of its wildflower meadows since the 1930s, and encouraging landowners and farmers to create new ones is to be welcomed.

We all know the bee population is in decline, and it is vital that everything possible is done, not just to halt this dangerous trend, but to reverse it. Without bees to pollinate plants, mankind is in serious trouble.

There are alarming reports that honeybees could be extinct in this country by 2018, and scientists investigating deadly bee viruses are working against the clock.

Meanwhile, it is up to everyone with land, be it hundreds of acres, or just a handkerchief-sized garden, to grow plants attractive to bees, butterflies and other insects, which form part of the chain of life.

Godfrey Bloom (UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire), Main Street, Wressle, Selby