If you’ve been in Hailes Quarry Park recently you might have noticed a new mound of earth has appeared. This is the park’s new bee bank, kindly created by a group of volunteers from Barratts.
They spent a session with the Edinburgh and Lothian Greenspace Trust earlier this month and also helped with the wildflower area in the park. A bee bank provides the ideal home for solitary miner bees, giving them a warm sheltered patch of ground for nesting. The crescent shape helps trap heat to give the bees a cosy home. Most people are familiar with honey bees and bumble bees but in the UK we also have a huge variety of solitary bees. Often a bit smaller and furrier, they nest in all sorts of habitat depending on the species. They are excellent pollinators and so very important for the environment and in maintaining bio-diversity. Hopefully, plenty of miner bees will be moving in to Hailes Quarry Park and making the park their home!
You can keep up to date with what’s happening in Hailes Quarry Park on their Facebook page. The next meeting of the park’s Steering Group is on Wednesday 21st August 3.30-4.30PM at Prospect Community Housing. If you would like to come along to find out more about the park and planned activities, contact Abby on 0131 445 4025 or email her at Abby@elgt.org.uk. And if you are interested in the local environment and ideas to make the area greener, there is also the Greener West Edinburgh page.
