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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Emma Snaith

‘Bee buffets’: the pollinator pathways turning drab alleys into insect havens

A woman sitting on the steps of a rewilded alleyway pats a passerby's dog
Flora Beverley (right), the founder of the pollinator pathways project in Knowle, Bristol. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian

Take a closer look at the colourful plants dotted along an initially unassuming Bristol alleyway and you’ll see them teeming with insects. Bumblebees, hoverflies and ladybirds throng around a mixture of catmint, yarrow, geraniums and anemones. “It’s buzzing with pollinators now,” Flora Beverley says.

Just over a year ago, the alley we are walking down was a dreary, litter-strewn dumping ground. Now, thanks to the pollinator pathways project, it is filled with nectar-rich plants and bee hotels. Colourful murals line the walls. A neighbour and her son passing by stop to tell Beverley they watered the plants yesterday. The local people who helped to transform the pathways continue to maintain them too.

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