A RETIRED Kidderminster grocer is waging a one-man battle to keep the British bee flying.

More than 20 species of the bumblebee have disappeared from Wyre Forest over the last 30 years according to Manfred Ingenthron.

The unrelenting carpeting of countryside with concrete and the destruction of natural habitats and food supplies through intensive farming has led to a marked diminuendo in the drone which once filled the area's gardens and wildflower meadows. Manfred Ingenthron who is battling against the decline in the British bee population.

But Mr Ingenthron, of Roden Avenue, is fighting back, by attracting up to 30 colonies at a time to nest in his garden. And they are not the only creature making a beeline for his house. Leading wildlife experts are visiting to learn from his remarkable success.

Dr John Gerrard, who is a member of wildlife conservation group, the Wyre Forest Society, said: "How he achieves the success he does is a mystery. One leading bee expert who visited put out 250 boxes in a particular area and only two were occupied by bees. Manfred puts out 20 to 30 boxes in his back garden and gets bees to nest in 25 of them."

Mr Ingenthron, 74, who was born in Germany and who came to Britain in 1944 as a prisoner-of-war, said he had been obsessed by bumblebees for more than 60 years.

According to a recent newspaper article highlighting the decline of the bumblebee in Britain, some 12 species have disappeared from England in the last 30 years following the destruction of habitats and food supplies under a slurry of silage, fertilisers and pesticides.

But Mr Ingenthron puts the figure much higher, at about 21.

"When I used to sit outside the farmhouse when I first came to England all I could hear was the drone and hum of bees and now that has diminished and is almost non-existent."

The same can't be said of his garden which is dotted with home-made nesting boxes, made from a variety of plant pots, wooden boxes and plastic containers and filled with moss.

"He has a knack," Mr Gerrard said, "and I'm still trying to find out how he does it. When I find out I can let everyone else know."