Honey bees have found a natural habitat in an Aberdeenshire town thanks to the conservation efforts of Cubs and Beavers.
A new bee-friendly garden has been built at a new housing development in Inverurie after a major housebuilder pledged to encourage the bee population.
The new habitat, which features some of the honey bee’s favourite flowers, is now in place at Osprey Heights in Inverurie, which has been built by Barratt Homes.
About a third of all honey bee colonies were lost over the winter of 2012/2013, prompting the housebuilder to pledge their support to the British Bee Keeping Association.
The developers will create 400 bee-friendly gardens across the UK.
Gary Patterson, from the Scout Association, said the Cubs and Beavers had been delighted with the planting project and that it was important for the children to learn about protecting the wildlife around them.
He added: “It is great for the children to learn all about the local environment and to help plant flowers which will hopefully help the honey bee to be around for years to come.”
Douglas McLeod, regional director for Barratt Scotland, said: “After learning about the decline in the population of honey bees and how important they are for our landscape we wanted to get involved straight away.
“All of our homes and developments have outside spaces so we have been working with our landscape teams to carefully select species of plants and flowers which will secure a pollen larder in a bid to support local bee colonies.
“It is not only important for us to make our homeowners aware of bee friendly gardens but also the local community and that’s why we wanted to involve the local cubs and beavers group to teach them the importance of protecting the bees in their community.”