Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust
Helping get London buzzing again
Conservation charity Buglife has an important and ambitious vision. They want to see ‘a wildlife-rich planet where other species thrive alongside people’. As their name suggests, they’re particularly interested in protecting insects, including wild bees, butterflies and hoverflies. In the UK, populations of these insects have been dramatically declining. Why? Because their habitats are being lost.
Changes in land use, farming practices, and expanding industry has threatened UK wildflower meadows and there’s a real danger of many insects becoming extinct. That’s why we’re partnering with Buglife to do what we can to help. Our grant of £90,000 will fund a project engaging people living and working in London in conserving pollinating insects and restoring their habitat.
- The Get London Buzzing project will benefit people of all ages and backgrounds across the Camden, Lambeth, Lewisham and Westminster areas.
- They aim to inspire and support local organisations to create 5 hectares of pollinator-friendly habitat.
- Over 2 years, the project will include 28 education sessions for schools, 24 community engagement events and training sessions, and 8 online engagement and training events.
Sharing knowledge
The Buglife project will address the urgent need to restore greenspaces for biodiversity, create habitat corridors and stepping-stones for wildlife so they can breed and re-colonise. It will also increase public understanding of pollinating insects and why they’re so important in nature. There are three main audiences: landowners, land-managers and businesses; members of the local community, including residents, families and older people; and school children.
The project will include schools’ education sessions and training in identifying and surveying pollinating insects. There’ll be community engagement events and advice sessions on managing habitats for land holders and community groups. The charity will also produce a ‘London’s Buzzing Pack’ for local businesses, schools and community groups, encouraging them to grow meadows and native wildflowers on their own land and in their gardens. Buglife will also develop a demonstration site that shows people how to create a biodiverse habitat in an urban setting. It’s hoped to be located close to the Houses of Parliament, and will allow hundreds of thousands of people to visit and learn by example.
This is our second grant to Buglife. The first helped them to build ‘vertical meadows’ and ‘living lamp posts’, which you can read about here.
“Pollinators are absolutely essential to ecosystems across the world. We feel lucky to be involved in not only improving the natural environment in London, but also helping Londoners to recognise the value these creatures bring to our city and beyond.”
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Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust
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