Meeting with the Council's Biodiversity Officer

[blackcavebees]

I was making a pitch to a local council manager a couple of weeks ago, how the Borough Council is spending £10,000s per year on plantings around the Borough and it would make sense to plant honeybee friendly plants as part of their existing programme.

Just got any email offering a meeting with the Biodiversity officer for next week and wanted to get my ducks in a row......

All suggestions, links to resources, peer examples in other councils, all welcome.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Have a look on the Welsh Government website - we've just launched the pollinator initiative in Wales so they may have some useful information..
One of the suppliers I've looked into specialises in annual seed packages for amenity areas, roundabouts and the like - even the packages not labelled pollinator friendly look ver, well, pollinator friendly. I'll have to check when I get home for the supplier's name but they market it as 'colour splash'.
You could alos suggest low maintenance perrennials such as cotoneasters and lavenders.
I'm working with our local Authority on next years pollinator planting scheme - same thing - i've convinced them of the big savings they can make by planting pollinator packs and flower meadows rather than obsessively mowing everything.

 

[alanf]

There are several lists, the RHS have a couple for gardens and wildflowers that give an idea.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Sustainable-gardening/Plants-for-pollinators

These are generally good for bumbles, solitary bees and other insects too, we're not entirely self interested.

Other than the plants themselves, the usual complaint is that councils (and their contractors) are obsessed with tidiness. Mowing entire verges rather than a roadside strip, broadleaf weedkilller across more than the pitches on sports grounds, mowing before wild flowers have actually flowered, clearing dead wood and so on.

Add: JBM may mean the Limagrain range. Another seed mix supplier I've used who supply local authorities, wildlife trusts etc is Emorsgate - prices and orders online.

 

[thorn]

Himalayan balsam?

 

[Fahey]

I would suggest Tetradium Daniellii or Bee Bee Tree, I know of one in Brittany planted by a beekeeper and in the summer it's like having a swarm overhead with hundreds of bees foraging on the flowers. It should grow ok up in Antrim, anyway it's worth a try. Cotoneaster is also a great small tree for bees.

 

[alldigging]

Mowing the verges less frequently.

http://www.plantlife.org.uk/roadvergecampaign/

 

[Luminos]

Mowing the verges less frequently.

http://www.plantlife.org.uk/roadvergecampaign/

or, if they have to mow them, at least plant swathes of crocus so the bees get some benefit

 

[alldigging]

or, if they have to mow them, at least plant swathes of crocus so the bees get some benefit

Yup

Or fruit trees. Because that'll feed people as well.

I've suggested to our councillor that the council plants a fruit tree for every resident of Oldham. He reckons 220,000 trees might be quite a lot though.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yup

Or fruit trees. Because that'll feed people as well.

I've suggested to our councillor that the council plants a fruit tree for every resident of Oldham.

Might save some money on the parks maintenance, but if the population ate all that fruit, the effect on their digestive tracts might well overload the sewage treatment system!!
Alanf - it may well have been limagrain - spoke to their rep. in the game fair this year.

 

[alldigging]

Might save some money on the parks maintenance, but if the population ate all that fruit, the effect on their digestive tracts might well overload the sewage treatment system!!
Alanf - it may well have been limagrain - spoke to their rep. in the game fair this year.

They could grow cider apples maybe... Oh wait that might not help either!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Yup

Or fruit trees. Because that'll feed people as well.

I've suggested to our councillor that the council plants a fruit tree for every resident of Oldham. He reckons 220,000 trees might be quite a lot though.

Our Parish Council proposed a Parish Orchard on a bit of wide verge. Highways said no as oiks would throw apples or pears at cars. Theres always someone to block projects!

 

[alldigging]

Our Parish Council proposed a Parish Orchard on a bit of wide verge. Highways said no as oiks would throw apples or pears at cars. Theres always someone to block projects!

Not even prepared to give it a try?
It's such a shame.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not been officially announced yet but I've (town council anyway) have Just won £26,000 in funding for an environmental project I'm working on in the valley - two massive cast iron planters in communal areas (to stop the lazy b***s parking theor cars on th pavement to save walking an extra ten yards to the post office), replanting all the crappy abandoned flowerbeds put in around the car park to qualify for a grant to regenerate that area a few years ago and a nearby large flowerbed on the village square, new flower beds in strategic areas in the valley, replacing two vandalised trees and replanting another small park/rest area. it covers much more than just planting (benches, notice boards etc) but the quote I've had for the plants is in the region of £7,000 and every one is a perrenial and pollinator friendly Can't wait for the spring!! Also got to get my a*rse into gear and liaise with the youth leader about pollinator friendly hanging baskets for next year!!

 

[Amari]

Good on yer, JBM

 

[pargyle]

Not been officially announced yet but I've (town council anyway) have Just won £26,000 in funding for an environmental project I'm working on in the valley - two massive cast iron planters in communal areas (to stop the lazy b***s parking theor cars on th pavement to save walking an extra ten yards to the post office), replanting all the crappy abandoned flowerbeds put in around the car park to qualify for a grant to regenerate that area a few years ago and a nearby large flowerbed on the village square, new flower beds in strategic areas in the valley, replacing two vandalised trees and replanting another small park/rest area. it covers much more than just planting (benches, notice boards etc) but the quote I've had for the plants is in the region of £7,000 and every one is a perrenial and pollinator friendly Can't wait for the spring!! Also got to get my a*rse into gear and liaise with the youth leader about pollinator friendly hanging baskets for next year!!

Brilliant ... I'm just surprised you haven't included one of these for the town centre ...

http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/news/bee-tower-in-buffalo.html

 

[alldigging]

Can't wait for the spring!! Also got to get my a*rse into gear and liaise with the youth leader about pollinator friendly hanging baskets for next year!!

Wow! Sounds fab!
Impressive!

 

[sharonh]

Watched a programme last Year, where Sarah Raven urged a few local authority's in England to try wild flower meadow seed,instead of grass seed on road side verges etc.
They also used annual seed, as gives a better flowering. The result was fantastic and everyone loved it.
She wanted to show how beautiful it could be, but also how beneficial it was to bees and other pollinating insects.
She promotes this all the time. Worth looking her up.
Sharon
Her tv programme was called.. Bees, butterflies and blooms, well worth watching

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Watched a programme last Year, where Sarah Raven urged a few local authority's in England to try wild flower meadow seed,instead of grass seed on road side verges etc.
They also used annual seed, as gives a better flowering. The result was fantastic and everyone loved it.
She wanted to show how beautiful it could be, but also how beneficial it was to bees and other pollinating insects.
She promotes this all the time. Worth looking her up.
Sharon
Her tv programme was called.. Bees, butterflies and blooms, well worth watching

emailed her the beginning of this year - didn't bother replying.
Swansea have did a lot of wildflower planting this spring - roundabouts around Redwood's neck of the woods and the verges from the town centre to the mumbles - everyone commented about how good they were.

here's the limagrain site:
http://www.limagrain.co.uk/products/amenity-grasses.html

the missing letters after the forward slash should read amenity-grasses

 

[sharonh]

emailed her the beginning of this year - didn't bother replying.
Swansea have did a lot of wildflower planting this spring - roundabouts around Redwood's neck of the woods and the verges from the town centre to the mumbles - everyone commented about how good they were.

here's the limagrain site:
http://www.limagrain.co.uk/products/amenity-grasses.html

the missing letters after the forward slash should read amenity-grasses

I would have tried sending a second email. Surprised she didn't reply. She would encourage from watching the programme.
I thought it was brilliant. Far nicer than grass verges etc.
More local authorities should be encouraged, cheaper on them and far nicer. More pleasing on the eye and great for all pollinating insects
Anyone that gets results in that department should be admired.
Sharon

 

[Russel]

The penny is slowly dropping with several councils around here too. Leaving verge cutting longer, wildflowers planting etc. Ours have sponsored several beekeepers under the "Forgotten Landscapes" initiative.
Get in touch with Bees for Development and ask about the program they are involved with Mon CC.