{"id":3842,"date":"2022-12-03T16:01:56","date_gmt":"2022-12-03T15:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=3842"},"modified":"2022-12-03T16:01:56","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T15:01:56","slug":"sians-bee-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=3842","title":{"rendered":"Sian&#8217;s bee project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/barerootsin.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/barerootsin.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3846\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3846\" class=\"wp-image-3846\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/barerootsin.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/barerootsin-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Planting bare root trees in the foothills of the Rhinog mountains<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sian writes: &#8220;I came late to bee obsession, but when it hit, it hit hard. After an epiphany watching a bee feed during the first lockdown, I\u2019ve spent the majority of my time and energy trying to make the four acres of land my husband and I own in the foothills of the Rhinog mountains, in North Wales, into as much of a wild bee paradise as I can. We\u2019re in a fortunate position here, located close to riparian corridors, temperate rain forest and two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/clover-2-rotated.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/clover-2-rotated.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3850\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/clover-2-rotated.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3850\" class=\"wp-image-3850\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/clover-2-rotated.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/clover-2-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Creating a clover meadow on the four acre land<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What this has meant in practice has been being covered in mud daily, my arthritis screaming at me to stop, trying to make bee habitat and provide fodder.\u00a0 The soil is thin and acidic, the winds frequent and strong. We\u2019ve planted native hedging, established two stumperies, dug two ponds, increased the plant diversity onsite, and withdrawn some of the land from grazing. It\u2019s often felt frustratingly slow to me, and I am humbled daily by just how much I don\u2019t know, and just how resilient and determined the bees are. This years, it&#8217;s been a joy to watch a variety of bee species feeding on our plants from early spring to the the end of October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/commoncarderbee-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/commoncarderbee-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3851\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3851\" class=\"wp-image-3851\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/commoncarderbee-1.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/commoncarderbee-1-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/threesacrowd.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/threesacrowd.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3852\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/threesacrowd.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?attachment_id=3852\" class=\"wp-image-3852\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/threesacrowd.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/threesacrowd-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size\"><em>Common carder bee  on Viper&#8217;s bugloss                  Three carder bees on a flower <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I came to understand the critical importance of accurate bee identification over the last year, because without it, I can\u2019t know which bees the land is supporting or what is successful in what we\u2019re doing. To gain ID skills, and also to know what to provide, I\u2019ve needed to immerse myself in sources of information I trust. Chief among them has been <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.sussex.ac.uk\/p126217-dave-goulson\/about\">Professor Dave Goulson\u2019s work<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumblebeeconservation.org\/identify-a-bumblebee\/\">Bumblebee Conservation Trust<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bwars.com\/content\/beginners-bees-wasps-and-ants\">Bee, Wasp and Ant Recording Society <\/a>(BWARS) and of the <a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.us3.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=a0a11e3b138412c76500c333b&amp;id=c76d101f4d\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.us3.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=a0a11e3b138412c76500c333b&amp;id=c76d101f4d\">Urban Bees newsletter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/calendar2023\/calendar.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/calendar2023\/calendar.html\">calendar<\/a>. The newsletter has been hugely helpful, especially for a newbie in the throes of coming to understand how to use larger reference books for identification. It\u2019s much easier to assimilate succinct, clearly presented information that is seasonally relevant. Alison and Brian \u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/shop\/books.html\">books <\/a>have also given wonderful focus and context. &#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Planting bare root trees in the foothills of the Rhinog mountains Sian writes: &#8220;I came late to bee obsession, but when it hit, it hit hard. After an epiphany watching a bee feed during the first lockdown, I\u2019ve spent the majority of my time and energy trying to make the four acres of land my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[86,49],"class_list":["post-3842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","tag-rewilding","tag-wild-bees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3842"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3853,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842\/revisions\/3853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}