Pollinator Habitat Planting Workshop

This workshop is designed to help you boost your wildlife gardening skill set - with a focus on wild pollinators. We will look at bee identification; show you which species are likely to be around your area; show you where they might be nesting and ways to get closer to them in general. We’ll also look at ecological gardening practices, with a large focus on insects and solitary bees, explaining how to boost habitat, how to maintain that habitat/improve existing and the number of species in your space and give tangible examples of what you can do.This session is ideal for anyone who cares about pollinators, nature or wildlife gardening in general.The session will cover:

• Basic bee ID. The key bees to keep an eye out for in London (and their associated ecology - where they nest, which flowers they prefer etc.)
• Alternative ways of gardening (e.g. pruning method) to boost habitat creation
• Ways of making habitat for solitary bees and wasps (including drilling holes in timber for solitary bees)
• Maintenance techniques, such as mowing regimes and hedge trimming
• Basic kit for spotting insects and giving yourself the best chance of ID

You’ll leave feeling more confident and less anxious about how to separate honeybees from mining bees; how to distinguish hoverflies that pretend to be bees from the real thing, and to know how to create and manage habitat for ground-nesting and aerial-nesting bees. Read more details