There are a growing number of bee friendly groups in Warwick District, all working to protect and promote these vital pollinators. Here’s some of their stories explaining the important work they’re doing…

Bee Friendly Kenilworth

From Fern Arnold, founding member and Chair of Bee Friendly Kenilworth:

“Bee Friendly Kenilworth was first formed in spring 2020 with the aim of improving biodiversity and helping all pollinators. We are a small town, but there are many community groups in the town and throughout the district that have similar aims to ours and we all work closely together. We also have the support of our local Town and District Councillors.

In May 2022, Kenilworth was awarded ‘Bee Friendly Town’ status by the Bee Friendly Trust - one of the first six locations to be officially named as such. 

Some of the work we have done to date includes:

• Rewilding patches of land - We are trialling areas of no mowing in the town and have seeded some of them with wildflowers. This year the common orchid was growing in one of these designated areas.

• Bee Friendly Schools - We offer school assemblies on why bees matter and facilitate activities for the children to get involved in sowing bee friendly flowers. We are planning to establish ‘Bee Friendly School’ awards across the county to encourage and recognise efforts by schools to support pollinators.

• Supporting the formation of other Bee Friendly groups locally - we readily share our information and resources to help other Bee Friendly groups to get started and work together on common aims. So far, this includes Bee Friendly Leamington, Warwick and Cubbington.

• Pesticide free and pollinator friendly gardening – Our BFK Facebook page regularly shares top tips and guidance on pesticide free and pollinator friendly gardening, along with lots of other useful information.

You can find us on Facebook or get in touch by email at bee.friendly.kenilworth@gmail.com.” 

Bee Friendly Leamington

From Jo Harper, founding member and Chair of Bee Friendly Kenilworth and Bee Friendly Leamington:

“Bee Friendly Leamington was launched in March 2023 with the intention of raising awareness of the importance of bees and other pollinators, to expand and enhance their foraging and nesting habitat and to achieve ‘Bee Friendly Town’ status in 2024.

Closely associated with Bee Friendly Kenilworth, Bee Friendly Leamington nonetheless has its own distinct approach, reflecting the composition and backgrounds of its committee and volunteers.

Sharing education is one of its core strengths and Bee Friendly Leamington has already conducted several bee conservation education sessions in primary schools and Rangers’ groups in the area.

We conduct regular seed share events and have our first ‘Bee Friendly Church’ to sign up, linking with the Eco Churches scheme.

We also hope to identify areas of green space throughout the town to achieve habitat connectivity for pollinators by empowering local people to get involved.

Bees pollinate 75% of our food crops and, without a thriving wild bee population, our food will become more expensive, the quality will diminish and we will lose many of our wild flowers, which brighten up our towns and villages and provide sustenance to so much wildlife. 

Bee Friendly Leamington’s mission is to involve as many people as possible in making Leamington a place where bees thrive through a connected network of nectar/pollen rich, pesticide-free gardens, verges, allotments, green spaces and planters.

You can find us on Facebook, or get in touch by email at beefriendlyleamington@gmail.com”

Bee Friendly Warwick

From Sara Lever, founding member of Bee Friendly Warwick:

“Bee Friendly Warwick was set up in June 2022 after being inspired by Bee Friendly Kenilworth. We want to assist insects whose numbers are in massive decline, especially pollinators and wild bees and share our knowledge on supporting local bees, pollinators and biodiversity.

The main aims of our group are to:

• Provide more safe habitats with increased floral diversity and with no harmful pesticides or pollutants in Warwick.

• Share knowledge of plants, shrubs and trees for pollinators to extend the seasonal availability of pollen and nectar and use nectar and pollen-rich options.

• Increase our understanding of how to support insects and pollinators in our own gardens. This could be by adding more floral diversity, leaving wild areas, pollinator homes or creating wildflower patches.

• Campaign for Warwick to become a 'Bee Town'.

• Campaign for the council to allow people to adopt the verges outside their properties to allow wildflowers to grow.

• Encourage community gardening, especially that which benefits pollinators.

• Encourage the council to avoid using pesticides, reduce the mowing of verges, create wildflower areas wherever possible, when planting to use plants and shrubs rich in nectar and pollen whenever possible, and use plants that extend the season for pollinators. 

Some of our current projects include:

• Working closely with Warwick Town Council to apply to adopt community verges in Warwick.
• A World Bee Day celebration event at Hill Close Gardens on Saturday 20th May 2023 to help our work towards achieving Bee Friendly Town status and raise awareness of the plight of bees, the variety of bees and what we can all do to help them.

Please follow us on Facebook for updates on our work or to get involved in our activities.”