Insect lovers can now save the lives of exhausted bees by using a specially designed bank card that has an embedded pool of sugar solution.
Bee Saviour Behaviour (BSB) have invented the credit card sized first aid kit in the hope that people will use it to revive dying bees while out and about.
Founder of BSB Dan Harris, 40, said: “We discovered that bees run out of energy very fast as they have a really high metabolism.
“But it is very easy to revive bees by giving them a sugary solution that they can drink.”
Although this is already a very common practice in gardens across the country, Dan found a problem.
The fine art graduate said: “It is very common to see exhausted bees on the street.
“When we see them we don’t always carry a teaspoon of sugar with us.”
Dan designed the ‘sugar solution carrier’ three years ago, using re-purposed cards from banks that have undergone re-branding.
Explaining the device he said: “It has three puddles of sugary solutions in holes of the card.
“We have then put them under a peelable sticker.
“If the bee is tired you just put the card next to it and he’ll drink it.”
The solution of water and pure fondant sugar will give the bee the necessary hydration and energy to survive.
Dan, from Norwich, Norfolk, has started a crowdfunder under the name ‘Take #savethebees to the streets’ in which he hopes to raise £8,000 to buy the necessary tools to manufacture the cards ready for the summer holidays.
Currently there are 200 prototypes on British streets, and a card can be pre-ordered through their crowdfunder website.
In the past decade, some have reported that UK bee numbers have dropped by a third.
Chemicals that are used in farming causes many bees to fall ill and die.
Bees are also in danger of falling victim to Colony Collapse Disorder in which worker bees for clear reason leave the hive and queen bee to die.
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