Page 61 - ALG Issue 2 2015

Bristol Pollinator Summit
On 9th February 2015, Di Appleyard and Allan Cavill (local representatives from the Society) attended the Bristol Pollinator Summit. The event is designed to promote to
a range of stakeholder groups in the Greater Bristol area, aspects of the National Pollinators Strategy, relevant to urban areas and public land. It is anticipated that similar summits will take place across the country and we would encourage our members to get involved.
Over 80 delegates gathered from a wide variety of organisations including WI, DEFRA, BBKA, Bristol City Council employees (including allotment officers), a trustee of the UK Wildlife Gardening Forum, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Buglife, Network Rail, National Trust, NAS member group Bristol East Allotments Association, representatives from other allotment groups in Bristol and many others.
The day was chaired by two local MPs and the two workshop sessions were held either side of presentations from Dr Katherine Baldock of Bristol University, Andrew Whitehouse from Buglife, Donna Butcher from the WI, Paul de Zylva from FOE, Kathryn Lwin of the River of Flowers Project and Becky Belfin from Bristol Council.
The workshops were designed to support the aspirations
of the Pollinator Forum for 2015 (listed below) and a start was made on mapping locations of good pollinator habitat and listing planned activities for the coming year.
• A local Pollinator Forum was found to share knowledge and best practice among organisations and community groups.
• To establish a more joined-up approach to pollinator conservation in the Greater Bristol area by linking projects together as part of the ‘Get Bristol Buzzing’ initiative.
• To identify and map locations of good pollinator habitat in the Greater Bristol area.
encourage pollinator- friendly gardening practices such as planting wildflowers
• To set up a ‘Get Bristol Buzzing’ website and
promote available resources, including Defra’s
‘Call to Action’ advice, Buglife’s Community
Meadow advice sheets and create additional
resources where necessary. Engage with the public and encourage pollinator-friendly gardening practices such as planting wildflowers, allowing lawns to grow long and reducing or eliminating use of pesticides.
• To hold workshops through the Pollinator Forum providing advice on how to manage public and private land for pollinators.
Lunch was a delicious chef’s selection of food that had, in the main part, been pollinated by pollinating insects. I shared a table with representatives from Ashley Vale, Redland and NAS members from Bristol East allotments, where we discussed the possibility of coming up with a list of plants to attract pollinators. The list would be suitable for use on allotments and not cause a nuisance to plot neighbours or hours of extra weeding.
In response to the Summit, Bristol East allotments, who manage 7 sites, are asking all their plotholders to find a small space, either on their plot or in their garden, to plant a patch
of flowers. The patch can consist of natural wildflowers or cultivated flowers. Bristol East allotments pointed out that a lot of pollinators also eat the pests that invade crops. They are also encouraging everyone to ask their site rep if there is an area on the site that could be turned into a flower meadow or a small bed.
I took the opportunity to ask Dr Kathryn Baldock of Bristol University to proofread the new NAS information leaflet about “Honeybees and wild pollinators”; which is now available to download on the website.
Di Appleyard, Marketing and PR Co-ordinator
61