It’s buzzing over at Barking Riverside
London Wildlife Trust has been awarded funding to build a specially designed “bee friendly” wildlife garden at Barking Riverside. The garden will demonstrate the valuable habitat features that will attract and support our declining native bee populations, in particular the rare brown-banded carder bee.
This project, called “Backyard Bee”, is being funded by the Big Lottery Fund and will offer free workshops on bee-friendly gardening for Barking and Dagenham residents.
Barking Riverside is an extremely valuable place for bees, and supports at least 37 different species of native bees and bumblebees out of a total of 254 species in the UK. Unfortunately our native bees are in decline, the cause of this is believed to be due to habitat alterations in our landscape, climate change and intensified farming methods.
The good news is that we can all do something to reverse this decline by creating some bee-friendly habitat in our own gardens. To give residents a helping hand, London Wildlife Trust will be running regular workshops on wildlife garden at Barking Riverside, and giving away plants and seeds to get people started.
If you are interested in attending a workshop, becoming a Barking Riverside Volunteer Gardener, or just finding out more information, please contact the Barking Riverside Conservation Officer, fbarker@wildlondon.org.uk or 07971 077095. To find out more about the Barking Riverside’s wildlife see www.wildlondon.org.uk/projects/barkingriversideconservationproject and sign up to http://barkingriversideconservation.blogspot.com/ To make a one-off donation to London Wildlife Trust simply text WILDLIFE to 70007. The text will cost £3 plus your standard network rate.
