Sue Chatfield
Airedale Beekeepers Association
Monday, September 17, 2012 09:23 |
Making Sutton Bee friendly
Hi, I am Secretary of Airedale Beekeepers Association and have been pressing the Parish Council to give over some space in our lovely park to wild flowers in an effort to improve our green credentials and bee friendliness in Sutton. They have agreed to plant some bee friendly plants but I would really love to see a whole area given over exclusively to these lovely flowers. Formal planting has its place but it doesn't encourage our wildlife. If this idea is a non-starter perhaps someone could suggest somewhere else that a wild flower garden could be made (maybe the area of land next to Airedale Glass?). I know the PC can't plant on private land but if anyone could offer or suggest such a place I'm sure everyone would enjoy it, especially the children, who could perhaps make a project out of it - and all for the price of a couple of packets of seed .... Please let me have your ideas and comments so that I can bring it to the next PC meeting in October. |
Nikki Barrett
Sutton
Friday, September 21, 2012 10:15 |
What a brilliant idea Sue, both myself and my partner would love a bee hive in our garden but think it may be too small? We are very aware that the population of bee's needs to increase.
We always buy plants to attract them so your idea sounds like a really good one have you written to the primary schools in the village to see if they can help?
Shame we can't turn Thompson's Field into allotments and wildlife area for conservation - this would benefit the village far more!!! (especially with the years and years of waiting lists for the tiny amount of allotments this village provides) I would rather increase the population of bee's in the village than people Any Day!
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Liz Kildunne
NODISC
Sunday, September 23, 2012 11:06 |
Just been in our park this morning, there is a lovely wide flower bed full of bee-friendly plants right now, lots of Echinacea, Rubeckia, Cornflowers and Achillea. Looks really pretty, lets hope they keep it full of this type of plant next year.
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Sue Chatfield
Airedale Beekeepers Association
Sunday, September 30, 2012 09:45 |
I know the park grows some bee friendly plants but wild flowers are not only beautiful but of huge benefit to pollinators. Cultivated flowers are fantastic but are not suited to every insect, honeybees for instance have a much shorter tongue than bumnle bees and so cannot access the nectar in some of the flowers that are great for bumbles. They do not have this problem with wild flowers. Just think how lovely it would look if the rough grass was removed from the wall bottom all along Sutton Lane and replaced with poppies, corn marigolds, cornflowers, and other flowering species, what a welcome to Sutton that would make! |
Paul Wilkinson
webmaster
Sunday, September 30, 2012 11:33 |
Hi Sue, that would indeed look lovely. Could you provide a list of flowers suitable for a corner of the garden? I've got some cranesbill geraniums that have had a lot of small (presumably honey) bees on them this year. In addition to attracting honey bees, are there any things to avoid that would deter them?
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Suzanne Shuttleworth
Sutton
Monday, October 29, 2012 18:56 |
I'm trying to sort my garden out, but I'm a rubbish gardener. However, I'd be happy to get some plants that bees liked, if I had some ideas of what to get. |
