Next week (April 16-22) is Bee Roadzz Launch Week on the Marlborough Downs. Marlborough Downs Space for Nature (MDSFN) and Transition Marlborough will be creating a ‘buzz’ about bees, aiming to raise the awareness of the importance of bees and pollinators and to encourage everyone in the area to be ‘Bee Friendly’.
Throughout the week events and workshops will be taking place, to explain the importance of bees and other pollinators, and how to encourage them into gardens and outdoor spaces. All events are free but advanced booking is required as numbers are restricted at some events. To book go to www.spacefornature.net/events
Together with local farmers, MDSFN and Transition Marlborough have identified four Bee Roadzz radiating out from Marlborough to Avebury, Broad Hinton, Chiseldon, and Pewsey.
Bee Roadzz are ‘insect highways’ along which the aim is to create as much feeding, nesting and hibernating habitat as possible, on farms, gardens, verges, public open spaces, and anywhere else plants will grow.
Dr Jemma Batten, project manager of MDSFN which was recently awarded the Best Conservation Project of the Year at the Wiltshire Life Awards said, “The Bee Roadzzs project is unprecedented in the Marlborough area, and in some ways experimental as we want to learn if we can help increase pollinator numbers if we provide them with the right habitat on a big scale. Therefore, we want to encourage as many people as possible to get involved by providing bee friendly flowers in their gardens.”
The first event of Bee Roadzz Week takes place in Marlborough Town Hall on Tuesday April 17 at 7 pm. Rebecca Twigg, from the award-winning Salisbury Bee Trail, and Hugh Warwick, ecologist and author, will be talking about the importance of bees and pollinators, explaining what we can do to make the Marlborough Downs more bee friendly.
“Everyone is welcome to attend the Bee Roadzz Launch Week events,” says Dr. Jemma Batten, “which will not only feature some very exciting speakers and activities, but will also offer advice on the plants that bees and other pollinators love. Then hopefully, come summer, everyone will be a winner, as gardens will be bountiful with blooming borders and baskets, and the bees will be happy too!”
Bee Roadzz Week Schedule of Events
Tuesday 17 April, 7-9pm Bee Roads on the Marlborough Downsat Marlborough Town Hall – Guest speakers Rebecca Twigg from the award-winning Salisbury Bee Trail and Hugh Warwick, ecologist and multiple author including Linescapes
- Wednesday 18 April, drop in between 11am-4pm – Bee Friendly with the National Trustat Avebury– featuring Interactive activities, information and advice as well as bee friendly plants for sale
- Thursday 19 April 3.30-5.30pm – Family Bee Friendly Fun on the farm, Winterbourne Monkton – Suitable for adults and children, a gentle farm walk investigating bees and pollinators as well as meeting with some of the farm’s four-legged fury friends, followed by pancakes in the barn!
- Sunday 22 April 10am-12.30pm – Wildflower walk, Berwick Bassett – A gentle walk on the Marlborough downs to see how the farmers of the Marlborough Downs are managing grassland to create carpets of wildflowers that buzz with a rich diversity of bees, butterflies and other pollinators, whilst also learning how you can do your bit too.
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