20 Mar, 2018

Adelaide Creating a Buzz About Bees

The City of Adelaide is excited to become part of a global movement to protect and potentially boost the population of native bees when it installs three Native Bee B‘n’Bs.

The native bee hotel structures will be installed at three key locations across the CBD, including in the Magic Forest Garden at the Bonython Park / Tulya Playground (Park 27), in the biodiversity site Mistletoe Park / Tainmuntilla (Park 11), and in the Wirrarninthi biodiversity site/ GS Kingston Park (Park 23).

This initiative comes at a crucial time for bees globally and reflects an increased understanding of threats to bee populations and of the role that native bees play in pollinating native and other plants.

The City of Adelaide is among eight local councils that are partnering with the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board to deliver this project as part of the River Torrens Recovery Project, which aims to restore the ecological health and function of the river.

Lord Mayor of Adelaide Martin Haese said there are more than 1600 species of native bees in Australia and at least 200 of those can be found in Adelaide and the Mount Lofty Ranges.

“These important creatures are facing tough challenges with destruction of their natural habitats right across the country, which means they could face extinction,” said the Lord Mayor.

“As a way of preventing this, we want to build bee hotels and revegetate native flowering plants in the hope that it will provide bees with nesting sites, increase their population and increase their pollination activities, while also educating the community about the importance of bees and the services they provide.”

The City of Adelaide will host an information session from 6.00pm – 7.00pm on Wednesday 4 April 2018 at the Joinery, 111 Franklin Street, Adelaide. Australia's foremost native bee expert Dr Katja Hogendoorn and South Australia's very own gardening guru Sophie Thomson from Gardening Australia will be presenting on native bees and their habitat and ideas for making your own Native Bee B‘n’B!

The community will also have the chance to help to build the native bee hotels at a community working bee on Saturday 19 May 2018.

Click here to register your attendance at the information session.

Image credit: Amelia Paterson

Paula Stevens