The Buzz - Hackney Buzzline News Sept 2024
Welcome to the The Buzz, our new Hackney Buzzline newsletter. To recieve this newsletter directly in your inbox subscribe below. Many thanks for your interest in helping to create a new flower corridor, buzzing with bees and butterflies.
The Hackney Buzzline is an exciting, much-needed project. In this country, pollinator populations are crashing and we’ve lost 97% of our wildflower meadows.
Pollinator Ecology
Luckily, our cities can provide refuge for many species. But first we need to find out about our local biodiversity. This year, our community ecologist Gerry has been looking to see what bees, butterflies and other pollinators we have around us. He’s found an astonishing amount of diversity in the four Hackney Buzzline parks - more than 130 different species so far.
He’s discovered rare species like the Brown-banded carder bee, declining species like the Essex skipper butterfly, and pollinators never recorded in the area before. He’s now sharing his findings with Hackney Council's biodiversity team and conservation bodies to inform Hackney’s nature recovery plan and wider conservation efforts.
Planting for Pollinators
This information is helping us plant the best flowers and create the right habitats for pollinators who share our parks, gardens and green spaces.
Our new postcode gardener Rachael started in June and began our first Buzzline pollinator stop at Kingsmead primary school next to Daubeney Fields. She selected seven plant varieties - including knapweed, chives and lavender - which research shows are most loved by bumblebees we know are in the area. She then taught 60 pupils how to make a bee-friendly flower bed.
The children learnt to identify bees and butterflies in the school; catch and record moths; and discover how plants and pollinators interact. We set up a school ecoteam and invited Butterfly Conservation to teach the children about the ecology of butterflies and moths. The charity also delivered two lessons at Mandeville primary school on the Clapton Park Estate.
On 4 July Rachael helped residents on the Nightingale Estate replace a parking space with a planter full of pollinator plants. She then ran a high-energy session with Nightingale School kids throwing seed bombs in the parklet, planting the planters, and learning about pollinators and soil.
Over the school holidays, we ran a pollinator summer camp for 50 children in the stunning Hackney School of Food garden. The children loved planting herbs for pollinators, making plant ID labels, and tearing around the garden catching bees and butterflies in a net. Afterwards, they learned cooking skills in the Hackney School of Food kitchen.
What’s next for The Hackney Buzzline?
We’re now working with residents on a project to create a memorial garden in the Kingsmead Estate. The garden celebrates the lives of three friends - Carol, Wendy and June - who recently passed away there. It will be a peaceful place which also provides bounty and habitats for pollinators. The Hackney Mosaic Project is making a mosaic to remember the three women, showing beautiful pollinators chosen by the families. Residents will be able to sit in the garden and enjoy butterfly meadows, fruit trees, poppy banks, and bee hotels and nesting mounds.
This autumn, we’re partnering with Hackney Council and Butterfly Conservation to make a butterfly meadow on Daubeney Fields. We’ll scrape the turf and sow a mix of grasses and wildflowers to support the Essex skipper – which is a London Biodiversity Action Plan species. The meadow will complement the community wildflower meadows and long grass areas we’ve created there over the last two years.
Get involved!
Would you like to help make the pollinator-friendly memorial corner in the All Mead gardens on the Kingsmead Estate? We’re there every Thursday from 10.30-12.30pm. We’d love you to join us for a day of de-turfing and seeding this Thursday 19 September and next Thursday 26th September. No skills are required.
It can sometimes be difficult to give much advance notice of volunteering dates we have available, as we work with several partners. We’ll email you new opportunities as they arise when we have confirmed dates.
Kingsmead Estate Volunteers
Corporate sponsorship and volunteer day opportunity.
We’re going to plant 5000 heritage English bluebells in the native tree biome on Millfields park made by the Tree Musketeers volunteers. English bluebells are a protected part of ancient woodlands. Our bluebell blanket will provide a spring source of wild pollen and nectar for native bees and other park pollinators. For good measure we’re adding dead wood loggeries to the park to provide nesting sites for solitary bees.
Ideally we’ll need a team of 15-20 volunteers for a planting day and sponsorship to help cover the costs.
If you know an organisation that may be interested please let us know.
Become a Citizzen Scientist!
We’re now also looking for volunteers to monitor bees and butterflies in the parks next year. This will help us build a better picture of pollinator diversity on the Hackney Buzzline. It will require a commitment to carry out at least one pollinator survey a month between April to September. We’ll provide training on how to do this. If you’re interested in becoming a citizen scientist for the Hackney Buzzline, please let us know
Till next time…Keep buzzing!
