Page 19 - BBCT117 - Buzzword 03.19

When the D eep in the heart of West Wales,
around the beautiful village of St
Dogmaels, fruit trees have been
Trust met appearing. Funded by The Big Lottery
‘People and Places’, the ‘People’s
the People’s Orchard’ is an environmental project their Beewalks, including young people
run by the community charity Hanes
recovering from substance misuse
Llandoch, with the aim of improving
Orchard habitat for pollinating insects. Historically, end of October 2018, 30 Beewalks were and adults coping with mental health
undertaken, attended by approximately
difficulties. Their feedback has been
St Dogmaels was known for its plentiful
overwhelmingly positive and some
250 volunteers. The team are currently
orchards, planted by medieval monks
Project in the twelfth century. The loss of these busy inputting their data into the of their regular volunteers have now
Beewalk website and we estimate it will
increased in confidence and enthusiasm
orchards and the habitats they supported,
have contributed to the loss of biodiversity be many hundreds of new bumblebee so much that they are planning their
By Clare Flynn, documented over the last century and records! own Beewalks for 2019. The data
Outreach Officer, Wales the vision for the project grew out of this The Orchard project, with support from they have collected will provide much
unique local history. needed information on the bumblebee
the Trust, has combined far reaching
In order to create corridors for insects, the and effective public engagement species present in the area with the
potential to assess the changes that
‘Beelines’ devised by Buglife were used as with targeted and carefully managed may occur over time and in response to
the basis for extensive fruit tree planting, biological recording. They have reached their inspiring and rather fruity habitat
alongside other habitat improvement people from a variety of backgrounds, creation activities.
activities. Nia Siggins and Sophie Jenkins sometimes inviting specific groups on
(The Orchard Project team), along with a
band of committed volunteers attended
the Trust’s bee identification sessions
and a BeeWalk information session, at
the start of 2018. We were delighted
to hear that following this, they had
planned four BeeWalks as part of the Children’s, adults & unisex clothing XS to XXL
‘People’s Orchard’, taking in a variety of Eco friendly T-shirts, free seeds for bees, 2%
habitats and locations within the project of profits to the Bumblebee Conservation
area. A calendar was drawn up, which Trust, HumbleB is a streetwear clothing brand
encompassed a different walk on the from Portsmouth doing our utmost to save
same day every week, thereby each route our black and yellow furry friends, to keep
was covered once a month as specified the bees and the flowers blossoming all year
in the BeeWalk guidelines. Each week round.
brought a keen band of volunteer helpers Use coupon SAVETHEBEES at the checkout for
though Nia and Sophie were rigorous in 10% of all orders - take a look at our brand new
range! Alternatively call 01329 510717.
implementing the specific methodology
of Beewalk, keen to ensure that these www.humblebgarms.com
walks, whilst engaging and informing local
people, were primarily about accurate @humblebgarms Spread love
recording and capturing of data. By the like pollen
@humbleb Stay HumbleB
18 Photos: People’s Orchard volunteers 19
18
by Sophie Jenkins