The King’s
Cross Bee Trail created in conjunction with the Honey Club was hosted around
the surrounding areas in King’s Cross from 5 August to 21 September 2015. The
trail aims to educate on how we can help bees raise in numbers, get us closer
to them and do some bee spotting.
The trail
starts off in Granary Square where we learn about the problem behind the number
of bees falling. The main issue with urban environments such as London do not
allow bees to thrive as they may not find enough places to collect pollen from
plants as well as little places for them to live. 97% of wildlife meadows have disappeared
resulting from modern farming and urbanisation in the UK since 1945. Without
any places to forage, there is no food supply for bees, which spells trouble
for us as they help pollinate two thirds of our food as well as bringing the
whole ecosystem to slowly disintegrate.
Hyssops, a
culinary herb, can be found running along the restaurants’ sides in Granary
Square from July to September.
This segment
allows participants to look for bees within an area of forage at Camley Street
wild patch picking a spot about 2 metres squared with 30 seconds to complete
the activity. The different bees to spot are the honey bee, the buff-tailed
bumblebee, the common carder bee and the leafcutter bee. The bees counted would
be collected into a database. This activity unlocks vouchers to restaurants
Dishoom and the Grain Store.
3. Handyside
Gardens (south)
This part of
the trail follows on from the previous with another 30 seconds challenge of
counting the bees spotted in plots of plants lined up along this side of the
Garden. This activity unlocks voucher to the Greek Larder and Rotunda.
4. Handyside
Gardens (north)
Bees only
eat nectar and pollen from plants, which they feed on from early spring to late
autumn. The Honeybees like simple daisy-like flowers. Some bees may have long
tongues which are used to drink nectar from tubular flowers.
Bees won’t
like certain things such as double-headed flowers which they find difficulty in
getting the pollen and nectar. Pelargoniums which are often mis-sold as geraniums
are sterile and should be replaced by true geranium for pollen and nectar. Weed
killers and pesticide should not be used as they are linked to bee deaths
worldwide.
Ways to help
bees out are first-off to plant bee-friendly plants in gardens, window boxes,
pots and hanging baskets. Allow the growth of flowers, vegetable bolt and
dandelions in the lawn as well as wild patches and a tree for bees to forage.
Not only can we do our bit but we can also put the word forward to councils and
landscape managers to plant bee-friendly plants and trees.
5. King’s
Cross Pond
This part of
the trail explores beekeeping and the importance of it. A beekeeper can manage
up to a colony of 50,000 honeybees. They create honey for food during the
winter season which are harvested for us to eat. You can enrol on a course with
a local beekeeping association or mentor which can be found on the British Beekeeping Association and Urban Bees.
Bees
pollinate a high number of foods that we eat which include fruits, vegetables,
nuts and seeds, as well as coffee and chocolate. Birds rely on them as
they feast on berries and nuts, showing the importance of bees to the ecosystem.
The changing
landscape is leading to a decline of places for bees to feed and live, but King’s
Cross which is going through many developments at the moment, are keeping
sustainability key in their development. They have created green roofs and tree
planting schemes, which will benefit both bees and people. Even the trains are
doing their bit by carrying a varied amount of different pollens into the city
which contribute to the diverse state of habitats for bees.
6. Viewing
Platform
Another 30
seconds bee count challenge at the wild patches found skirting along the bottom
of the viewing platform near King’s Cross Pond. This unlocks a voucher for Skip
Garden.
7. Skip
Garden
The last
part of the trail ends at Skip Garden. Bees are under threat as there are less
places that are undisturbed and solitary wastelands for wild bumblebees to
nest. There are many places where bees can live such as man-made hives, holes
in the ground, old animal nests, pile of leaves and bird boxes. Ways to
create homes for bees can be found at beeconservation.org and urbanbees.co.uk.
The app is
available for download on Apple and Android devices and uses Bluetooth technology
to connect to the hotspots to unlock the content at each stop. Alternatively, codes
can be found at each stop which can be inputted into the app. I hope they bring
this back as a permanent fixture as the trail is of course very enlightening about
how our interactions can help bees grow and thrive.
#KXBeeTrail
