Spring Rising! We welcomed Spring 2023 with a Relaunch of our Bee Sanctuary, featuring a fully accessible Volunteer Centre with toilet, and welcoming onboard 4 new Trustees, Jacqui, Marcus, Monika, and Kel. We posted flyers through the doors of our neighbours to encourage them to come round the corner and be amazed at Nature. It worked, and there was a lot of fun and excitement for children and adults, including art workshops, seed bomb making, tadpoles and running up and down the paths. We wanted to show our neighbours the Bee Sanctuary right at the beginning of Spring, when the cherry blossom is out, and the Lesser Celendine, Grape Hyacinth, Snakes Head Fritillary, Snowflake, and Wood Anemones are blooming. If people continue to visit they will see Spring unfold into Summer, and many more wild flowers will make an appearance.
Our wild flowers are there for the pollinators Bees, Butterflies and other insects. And at the moment you can see, Comma and Brimstone butterflies, and Queen Bees all coming out of their winter phase and looking to create new life. We have mounted a wildflower exhibition on the fence at the vehicle entrance to help visitors identify the flowers, as well as Highlights of 2021, joining our original exhibition created in the first year of our work.
Enjoying Nature There were many children and adults enjoying the space, many for the first time, helped by a new leaflet and guides. We had tadpoles on display and the woodchip paths are ideal for running round on, as well as seed bomb making, and art workshops. Among the visitors we welcomed our local MP, Afzal Kahn, who was intrigued by this bit of Nature and even did a bit of volunteering, planting a honey suckle to climb over our mega Bee Hotel. Like many others, Afzal wondered why we have a Bee Hotel and not Bee Hives. We explained that we support the many species of Wild Bees, including Solitary Bees…many species of which lay their eggs in holes, and seal the egg in with a packet of pollen and nectar. The egg transforms into a grub and then an adult bee inside it’s cell, and then emerges the following Spring. We drill different size holes in logs stacked inside the hotel for their use. The hotel also provides habitat in the spaces between for bumble bees, and wildlife such as voles frogs etc. We work with Avanti West Coast Community and Sustainability Champions who work closely with us to bring schools in contact with Nature. Their staff voted us their Charity for the year. On this occasion they were delighted to support our Relaunch, providing a huge gazebo, seed bomb making, and a second art workshop.
Celebrating Access to Nature We have worked hard to create a fully accessible Volunteer Centre, And now everyone who wants to experience nature and volunteer can do so. We have opened the gate during our Volunteer Sessions on Tuesdays 10.30am and Sundays 11.00am. We are keen to welcome visitors and volunteers with disabilities, and keep the vehicle entrance open on Cringle Rd during volunteer sessions. (The Bowler St entrance to Highfield is accessible with a radar key.)