Bringing bumblebees back to Bexley

The University of East London’s Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) has helped create a pollinator corridor through Thamesmead in the London borough of Bexley. Such corridors connect different patches of habitat, producing a network of flowers to enable pollinators such as bees to thrive.

The project is a partnership between the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, the North West Kent Countryside Partnership, the Ridgeway Users Group, Bow Arts and the University. It was carried out with the help of local communities, with funding provided by the Mayor of London’s Rewild Fund.

The Director of the SRI, Dr Stuart Connop stressed the importance of the project for local people, as well as the local wildlife. He said, 

This is a wonderful project that is helping to empower local community groups in East London to bring back nature into their communities. This rewilding project blends art, knowledge exchange, ecology, and active travel.

Work has been taking place since last year on increasing the abundance and diversity of forage plants and nesting sites on the site. But next month, on 8 April, the project will be officially opened. Signs along the corridor with details about the project will be unveiled by the Mayor of Bexley, Ahmet Dourmoush. Much of the corridor runs along the Ridgeway, a footpath owned by Thames Water in south-east London. It’s hoped one of the bees that will benefit from the corridor is the shrill carder bee, one of Britain’s rarest species.