Brighton & Hove Friends of the Earth

The creation of a new haven for bees began in January with a lot of hard work by volunteers from Brighton and Hove Friends of the Earth (BHFOE) and Friends of Hollingbury and Burstead Woods (FHBW).  Members from both groups lopped, sawed, dug and raked their way through the overgrown south facing bank in Hollingbury Woods to expose bare soil which some solitary bees love.

The site is one of 60 Jubilee ‘Bee Worlds’ springing up around the country as part of Friends of the Earth’s Bee Cause campaign.  The group are calling on the government to take bolder action to protect threatened bees in the UK.  More about the campaign can be found on Friends of the Earth’s website.

Monica Jennings, a member of BHFOE, said:

“We had great fun making this area a place that bees can call home. It may look like just a bare patch of soil but we will be doing more to attract solitary bees which are in decline. If anyone wants to help us please get in touch.”

90% of all bees are solitary and unlike honeybees and bumblebees, don’t live in colonies.  Like these other bees they are also important crop pollinators.  The UK has some 250 species of solitary bee, whereas we have only 24 species of bumblebees and one species of honeybee. Amongst the most common solitary bees in the UK are red mason bees, leafcutter bees and mining bees.

Friends of Hollingbury and Burstead Woods is a group of volunteers who run work sessions once a month to look after these woods close to Fiveways / Ditchling Road.  See their website or Facebook page for more info.

For other info on BHFOE see our Facebook page.