This week I’ve been spotting some fabulous late-flowering perennials, which due to the mild October and smattering of sunny days are still covered in various types of bees.
The bright purple blooms above are Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’, spotted at RHS Bridgewater recently – looking very healthy and being enjoyed by bees.
I’ve also recently spotted a classic ‘butterfly bush’, otherwise known officially as Buddleia, which was covered in honey bees. These are fast-growing late flowering plants, come in various wonderful shades of purple, pinks and whites.
And lastly, ivy is another fast growing and late flowering evergreen perennial, which when left to flower will be absolutely covered in bees. This shed covered in overhanging ivy was absolutely vibrating with bees.
Creating wildlife corridors
While looking at this woodland gabion structure, I have started thinking about wildlife corridors for invertebrates. There’s been a great success around people creating wildlife corridors for hedgehogs, by opening up fences to create space for them to roam. And we can also extend the wildlife corridor using hedgerows across the countryside.
Can we achieve the same effect for invertebrates using gabions and drystone walls? It’s possible that we could interconnect areas of landscape, utilising man-made structures, and if so why aren’t we identifying / designing other hardscape structures which offer a high degree of structural complexity to house insects? Definitely food for thought.
What am I reading?
I read that the ambitious 130 acre Northern Roots park in Oldham gained unanimous approval at the planning committee, which is really positive to hear. Full permission has been given for a visitor centre, learning centre and events centre, with outline planning granted for allotments and a swimming pool. All very exciting.
https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/planning-unanimous-approval-for-northern-roots/
