Category: events

Bee and Pollination Festival Was Buzzing

Posted on by andy.winfield

Standing in the marquee at the Bee and Pollination Festival felt as close to being in a hive as one could imagine as it was absolutely buzzing with activity! As I weaved my way between the stalls I caught little pieces of conversations going on –“…beekeeping is not easy…first thing you need to do is take a course…”, “…which shutter speed should you use if you’re trying to get the wings of a bee in flight…” and “…have you heard of colony collapse disorder…” . My 5-year old was busy making a giant paper bee, while my husband spoke to the folks at the allotment display and I was admittedly taste testing some of the amazing local varieties of honey. There was something for everyone.

The University of Bristol Botanic Garden hosted the 4th annual Bee and Pollination Festival on the 7th and 8th of September, and as usual, people came out by the hundreds to celebrate bees and other pollinators that perform an essential ecosystem service. We do love our bees!
Nawbash helps a young bee enthusiast spot the queen.

Becoming a beekeeper

I happened to be looking at the display frame set up by the Bristol Beekeepers Association when a gentleman sidled up to Sue Jones, one of the beekeepers on hand to chat with the public, to ask about how one gets into beekeeping.
Sue quickly lays it on the line for him by saying “beekeeping is not easy”, but she quickly adds that some courses and hands-on experience are the first steps one needs to take to get into beekeeping. She’s not trying to discourage anyone from beekeeping, she, like anyone who has kept bees, knows that it is not something you enter into lightly.
Morgan (left) and Zippy (right) making a giant paper bee.

Nawbash Mohammed is another beekeeper on hand and so I begin to speak with her about being a beekeeper. The Bristol Beekeepers Association runs beginner beekeeping courses during the winter to cover the theory about beekeeping. The courses run over three Saturdays. Then, over the spring and summer, the Association offers practical education to cover all the hands-on aspects of beekeeping from opening a hive to handling the frames.

Nawbash has been a beekeeper since 1997, first in Iraq and then when she moved to Bristol in 2011. I ask her about beekeeping in Iraq and how it differs from keeping bees here in the UK. “The principles are all the same,” she says, “but it’s just very different weather and the honey has a very different taste”.  Nawbash describes for me the extremely unique taste of a premium honey in Iraq, made from the nectar collected from mountain flowers. I have to admit to her that this serene image of bees moving from flower to flower in mountain meadows is not the image that comes to mind when I think of Iraq – but I suppose it is the evening news that I have to thank for that. She admits there were additional challenges associated with being in a country fraught with war and political strife, but for the most part the challenges were the same facing beekeepers around the world – disease, mite infestation and colony collapse disorder.
Some of the honey on display and for sale at the festival.

Feeling thoroughly enlightened, I head over to buy a jar of Henleaze honey as I live in the neighbouring community – can’t get more local than that! “That’s my honey!” Nawbash laughs as she sees the jar I pick! Local, and I’ve met the beekeeper…brilliant!

The full experience

After speaking with Nawbash, I found my son and husband floating about the delicious cakes on display at the Bramble Farm table. Bramble Farm is a small landshare farm in Bristol. They keep sheep, pigs and turkeys and grow lots of veg, most of which goes to support the families that share in the upkeep in the farm, but any extra is sold at events such as this.
At the foot of the table lies a basket of some of the largest courgettes I’ve ever seen! However, it is some decadent chocolate cake that has caught the attention of my family! A little hint of fresh mint in the chocolate – delicious!
The apple press that kids took turns operating.

I stop briefly to look at the schedule of activities for the day as I don’t want to miss the demonstration hive talk. In doing so, I start to chat to a woman who is one of nearly one hundred volunteers that are there helping make the weekend’s events run smoothly. Jen Ellington is a committee member of Friends of the Garden as well as one of the Welcome Lodge Volunteers. She’s also opening up her garden next month as part of the Friends’ Open Gardens Programme – each year the Friends open their gardens, large or small, to raise funds for the Botanic Garden. Last year, Jen’s Gardyn raised over £400. Not bad considering her garden is only 15’ x 31’! However, don’t judge the garden by its size as it sounds as though there is plenty to see in this space. “We can’t go out anymore,” said Jen, “so we’re going up – I’m claiming my airspace!”  Within two minutes of listening to Jen’s description of her little garden haven, I’m hooked – so stay tuned to hear more as I will definitely be attending the open garden! The tour is Sunday, 6th October from 2-5pm and you don’t have to be a Friend of the Garden to attend. The address is 4 Wroxham Drive, Little Stoke.
People gather around the demonstration hive.
Next we join the crowd outside the tent that is watching some children work a small apple press to make fresh apple juice. My son obviously has to have a go…after all, we need to wash down the chocolate cake!
We quickly make our way over to the display hive where the beekeeper is taking apart the hive to show the crowd the combs and what it’s like to work a hive.  As the smoke from his smoker rises up through the crowd, the beekeeper explains that “everything runs on pheromones in the hive. As soon as I open the hive, alarm pheromones will be released saying there’s an intruder. The smoke masks those pheromones. So you don’t ever let your smoker go out” – sage advice to any budding beekeepers in the audience.

Always something new to see

Ethel standing proud in a temporary position for the festival.

Of course, we can’t leave without touring the rest of the garden and I must say that the warm days of summer have made things all rather lush.  As my son stares into the pond outside, looking at what seems to be hundreds of dragonfly larvae, I admire the grape vines laden with fruit.

I also notice that Ethel, the giant willow moa bird sculpture, is finished and is on display!
There is a potted orchard, which is new – apples, blueberries, pears, figs, olives, plums and other edible delights line one of the pathways – another reminder of why we should celebrate pollinators!
Down near the glasshouses, Writhlington School has an extraordinary orchid display and inside the glasshouses the lotus plants are in bloom.
A pollinator at work in the garden.

I’ve said it before, but there really is always something new to see in the garden with every season. This weekend marked my second Bee and Pollination Festival and the anniversary of this blog. Having written the blog for the Garden for a year now, I also get to have some insight into some of the plans for the garden and new displays that are on the horizon. I have to say that I have been impressed to no end at how quickly things seem to turn from idea to reality in this garden. Of course, the staff and volunteers that are there every day doing the grunt work behind it all, may feel differently, but for someone who is there every few weeks, things seem to move at an incredible pace. It’s been a wonderful year and I look forward to sharing more about the people, plants, events and research that goes on in this beautiful garden.

Seeds of Change volunteers get down and dirty

Posted on by andy.winfield

Last month Alex and Rhiannon wrote about the ballast seed collection at the Botanic Garden and hinted at a new project, called “Seeds of Change: Growing a Living History of Bristol”. The Seeds of Change project provides Bristol schools and community groups with an opportunity to grow ballast seed gardens of their own and link the plants that they grow to the maritime history that is integral to Bristol’s heritage.
The partners on this project, the University of Bristol’s Centre for Public Engagement, Botanic Garden, andArnolfini have all been working hard on different aspects of the project to prepare for its launch, including developing creative workshops in partnership with artists and academics, building relationships with schools and community groups, sorting out the logistics of planting ballast seed gardens all over the city, and recruiting a troop of student volunteers to go out into the community and help build the gardens. The project is well underway and I recently joined the student volunteers on a training session at the Botanic Garden as they prepared to head out to the schools and community groups.
The day’s training covered everything from advice on how to draw out the many themes of the Seeds of Change project and managing enthusiastic school children to tips on turning soil. However, like all good training, there was a practical component that allowed the volunteers the opportunity to get their hands dirty and pick up some great tips from the staff at the Botanic Garden at the same time!

Avoiding the ‘Tom and Jerry’ style of tool storage

Botanic Garden Curator, Nick Wray
explains tool safety.
After a brief introduction to the day by Seeds of Change Coordinator Martha Crean, and Botanic Garden Curator Nick Wray, the volunteers were divided into two groups. I followed Nick’s group out to the vegetable patch where they were to practice preparing a bed and sowing seed.
After the volunteers put down their gardening tools and gathered around, Nick starts with some basic health and safety. He points to rakes left in what he refers to as the ‘Tom and Jerry’ style. I’m sure you can picture it – stand on the upturned teeth of the rake and the handle springs up to crack you in the nose in a perfectly choreographed slap-stick comedy sketch. Only it’s not slap-stick and it’s school children rather than a cartoon cat and mouse.
Nick masterfully divides and designates, showing how to handle groups by example and taking the volunteers through every step that they will need to do when they go out to their schools and community groups. The volunteers range in gardening experience and so Nick doesn’t miss a single detail, explaining how to handle the tools without breaking your back, how to prepare soil that has been turned and broken down to just the perfect particle size, and even how to clean your boots when you’re done.
There are also tips about keeping school children engaged and busy. After he uses the draw hoe to mark out a furrow in the ground that marks the border where they will be planting, Nick says, “Now, you and I can see that but a child won’t. They’ll step right over it.” As a mother, I can immediately see his point, but I wouldn’t have thought of it had he not mentioned it. He suggests that the volunteers keep the children busy by getting them to collect pebbles or sticks to lie in the furrow and mark out the planting bed. Simple, but an effective way of keeping everyone engaged with the project.
Nick even manages to work in discussions of evolution as he points out that most of the seed is dark against the soil in order to avoid predation. These are tidbits of information that I would be storing for later if I were one of the volunteers.

And in the potting shed…

Froggie works with Seeds of Change
volunteer Alex in the potting shed.

With Nick’s group all busy sowing seeds, I decide to head back to the potting shed to see what Froggie’s group is doing in the potting shed. I walk in and it’s very quiet and the volunteers are all very busy filling small pots with soil, placing the pots in large trays and using other pots to level the soil, then planting the seeds, watering and placing the trays outside.  I’ve unfortunately missed the instructional part.
Some of the community groups and schools won’t have garden space, and so they will instead be doing some container gardening with their ballast seeds. The volunteers will have to be prepared for both situations.

Student volunteers share an interest in gardening and children

For the volunteers, Seeds of Change offers a wonderful opportunity to be involved in a city wide project that ties gardening in with themes related to art, history and science, while also building their skill set and network for the future.
While there are many benefits on paper to volunteering, I decided to chat with a number of the volunteers to find out what really brought them away from their studies and research to play in the dirt on a sunny March day.
Seeds of Change volunteers sowing ballast seed in pots.

When I approached Camilla, a second year undergraduate student in Biological Sciences, she was busy breaking down clumps of dirt with a rake in the Garden’s vegetable patch. Camilla worked at the Botanic Garden last year and really enjoyed it, so when the email about the Seeds of Change opportunity hit her Inbox she embraced the opportunity, “I was looking for something to do outside of my studies, but still related,” said Camilla. “It’s a chance to give something back while still learning.”
On the way to the potting shed, I walked with two plant ecology PhD students who are also volunteering for the project. After joking that the project would be a good distraction from their research, they admitted that it was the idea of growing gardens with children that appealed to them.
In the potting shed, Alex, a History of Art student, was busy patting down soil in little pots to provide an even surface for sowing the seeds. Alex is thinking about going into teaching and found the aspect of working with children appealing, but also comes from a family of gardeners and in her words, “is quite used to messing about in the dirt”.
For others, like Nicola, another History of Art student, it was the prospect of making contacts and working with Arnolfini that drew her into the project.

Next steps for the volunteers

Seeds of Change volunteers turning soil, preparing for
when they will help schools and community groups plant
ballast seed gardens all over Bristol.
After the day of training at the Botanic Garden, the volunteers are going out to the site location that they’ve been assigned to with Kasha Smal , who is both a horticulturalist and former primary school teacher.  Kasha has helped produce a workshop program for the Seeds of Change project directed at years 4, 5 and 6 (keystage 2). The workshop includes a 30-minute activity as well as 30-minutes of thinking about the origins of the plants and places they might know as well as uses of the plants.  Kasha will then introduce the idea of planting the ballast seed garden and introduce the volunteer.  The volunteers will take the opportunity to assess what the garden situation is – pots versus a plot, well-worked soil versus needs some work, tools on hand.
After the introductory session, the volunteers will return to their groups on their own and plant the gardens.  Then, a few weeks later, they will do a follow-up session to see how things are getting on and maybe take the opportunity to talk more about the plants that have germinated and link them to the themes of the Seeds of Change project.

Ballast seed garden is only one strand of the project

The project is ambitious. Gardening is only one component of the project as each of these groups will also do a creative workshop alongside the ballast seed garden. There are three workshops to choose from and each one combines an artist and an academic working on some aspect of the Seeds of Change project. When Martha explained each of the workshops to me, the one that caught my attention investigates the sounds of plants and involves a sound artist as well as a scientist. The idea is to explore the sounds you hear when you put a microphone up to a plant and investigate the biological processes that underlie those sounds.  That is most certainly the subject of a future blog post!

There will be a website that will be associated with the Seeds of Change project, and each of the 16 ballast seed gardens being built around the city will have a page within that website with pictures and anecdotes documenting their experiences. I’ll be sure to follow how the project is progressing and report back with news of how the volunteers are getting on.

The Seeds of Change project is still in need of some volunteers, so if you’re interested, please contact Martha Crean at 0117 33 18313 or martha.crean@bristol.ac.uk.

“WOW! That’s a lot of bees!”

Posted on by andy.winfield

     I could hear my son’s enthusiastic voice coming from somewhere near the front. He had managed to squeeze through the crowd so he could see, while I stood at the back trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. There were about a hundred of us gathered around a demonstration beehive in the University of Bristol’s Botanic Garden, listening to the beekeeper talk about maintaining beehives. He’d just pulled out a frame from the hive that was absolutely writhing. We all stepped in for a closer look, and despite having no fear of bees, I have to admit that I was grateful for the mist net that separated us. After all, 15,000 is a lot of bees!
An audience gathers around the demonstration hive to
learn about the art of beekeeping. Photo: Nick Wray.
     Last month, my son and I were on a long walk when we happened upon the annual Bee and Pollination Festival at the Botanic Garden. The festival is a joint effort between the Botanic Garden and the Bristol branch of the Avon Beekeepers Association and this was its 3rd year running. This year, the event also partnered with the Bristol City Council’s Allotments Team, who helped to build a small working allotment on-site to celebrate the event’s theme of vegetable growing and allotments. About 1,000 people visited the gardens over the festival weekend and judging by the faces gathered around the demonstration hive, it was a hit whether you were two or ninety-two.
     For my 4-year old, bees mean delicious sweet golden honey. However, for many of us with gardens or allotments, bees have a much greater importance and value in their role as pollinators and the Bee and Pollination Festival was a chance to celebrate this. In the UK, the hard work of pollination is mostly done by insects – bees, butterflies and hoverflies to name a few. Besides our domestic bee, Apis mellifera, the UK has 26 species of bumblebee and 250 species of solitary bee. While we’re at work making a mental list of things that need sorting out in the garden on the weekend, these pollinators are out there doing their thing. In the UK alone, the value of insect-pollinated crops is estimated to be £510 million annually; pollinators perform an extremely valuable ecosystem service that is critical to our future food security.
     It’s important to be reminded of the connection between food and insects, particularly when we consider the plight of our pollinators. Bee and pollinator populations are in decline largely due to loss of natural habitat; monoculture crops and well-grazed pastures do not promote the wild flowers that are essential food for our pollinators. Loss of nesting areas, widespread use of pesticides and disease are also taking their toll.
     The University of Bristol’s Urban Pollinators Project was on hand at the festival to discuss some of these issues. The project is taking a close look at pollinators in urban environments, surveying pollinating insects in the urban centres of Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds and Reading. The researchers are comparing the biodiversity of pollinators in urban environments with that in reserves and farmland. They’re also trying to identify urban hot-spots of pollinator biodiversity and look at ways of improving diversity and abundance of pollinators in urban areas.
The small working allotment built for the Bee and
Pollination Festival. Photo: Nick Wray.
     While my son stood entranced at the observation hive, searching for the queen, I also had a chance to check out the Bees for Development stand. If you haven’t heard of them, this is an independent organisation that works largely in Africa and Asia promoting more and better beekeeping to help build sustainable livelihoods in developing communities, while also conserving biodiversity. Among other things, the group helps promote the value of bees as pollinators, linking beekeeping to improved crop yields and profits for farmers and stressing their importance for food security.
     We had unfortunately just missed a speaker from Writhlington School’s Orchid Project, but we did meander through the artist exhibits and local nursery displays. We stopped by the Riverford Organic and Butcombe Brewery displays, and of course we couldn’t leave without buying a jar of local honey from the Bristol Beekeepers.

      However, the highlight of the day for me was, without a doubt, seeing my son’s face as he wound his way through the crowd to find me and share his unbridled excitement at seeing all those bees. For him, the smell of the smoke, the hum of the bees and the thrill of spotting the queen among thousands of dancing bees was an incredible window into the world of bees. For me, it was a reminder of the many ways we’re connected to insects and pollinators in particular. For both of us, we’ll have fond memories to think back on each time we enjoy some of our local honey.