Bees & Habitats Campaign Update - May 2015

Bees
Friends of the Earth's Great British Bee Count is taking place again this year. see the link for more details.

Part of the bee campaign last time was to promote bee meadows like the one we helped to create at Burngreave Cemetery. We still have a few packets of seeds left which we can give out on stalls. Francois suggested planting seeds on the stall with bags of compost and seeds to plant and take away. Perhaps a sunflower seed.

Smithy Wood
30th June is still the final definite last date for the hearing. David is to check with the others in the Save Smithy Wood group to see what we can do beforehand. Perhaps we could hold a demonstration. This would have to be organised via email.

Bee Campaign

During the stall at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, it was suggested that we could have a bee meadow at the hospital. This would need to go to the estates department first.

The Woodland Trust would like a bee meadow at the bottom of Ecclesall Road. David is to organise this and will report back later.

Bee Cause Update - February 2016

Friends of the Earth’s Great British Bee Count will take place between 19 May - 30 June 2016. If you'd like to take part then please sign up for more information.

David sent his apologies as he couldn't attend the February meeting, but he let us know by email that Friends of the Earth are thinking about a national day of action to coincide with the Great British Bee Count. David also mentioned that we could get involved with sowing seeds at a bee meadow with Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust. The group decided that we can’t take on any more big campaigns but if they involved very little effort, such as a few hours work on a weekend, then it would be possible.

Actions: 

1. David to follow this us with Friends of the Earth and the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust.

Habitats & Wildlife Campaign Update - September 2015

Bees
David is trying to arrange a few sessions where we can support a bee meadow in Sheffield by joining forces with the Woodland Trust. It's unlikely that anything will happen until next year.

Smithy Wood
Eleanor Ridge, planning officer from Sheffield City Council, has refused to meet us to discuss Smithy Wood. David is in discussions with other groups on how best to progress this matter.

Habitats Update - August 2015

Smithy Wood
20th October is the deadline for the planning application to build a motorway service station on the ancient Smithy Wood. David is to write to Department of Environment's Leeds office asking why the Environment Secretary gave no objection for the planning regulations. These are ancient woodlands and cannot just be dug up for a service station and we cannot be placated by the promise of more trees being planted elsewhere. Cowley has asked that it be given Village Green Status but this has not been accepted yet. There are links to a shell company in Jersey which has not been made public but needs to be highlighted to the press and politicians (in case there are any links or clash of interest). David is to contact Angela Smith MP and Penistone and Stocksbridge FoE to see if they have been in contact. Could we ask for a FOI to ask what meetings have taken place with the Environment Agency?

Bee Meadow

The seeds have arrived and there will be a planting session at Burngreave Cemetery on Saturday 21st March. Anyone who would like to help with this should meet up with Saleema of the Permaculture Group and Friends of Burngreave Cemetery at Burngreave Cemetery on Saturday at 12 – 4. The children and staff from the local adventure playground will be helping. Also Ken and some children have made some bat boxes which will be put up as well. The weather forecast looks good too so hopefully it will be a great day.

Bee Meadow

The seeds for the bee meadow are on their way to Saleema and Burngreave Cemetery. Saleema is hoping to have a seed planting session on Saturday 21st March, which coincides with the solstice, so maybe even have a party afterwards. I am sure that there could be lots of photos to be taken and maybe even a little slot in the news.  If anyone is able to help with this please get in touch. After working on this for so long I am gutted that I will not be able to make this final push so if anyone can put themselves forward I would be really grateful.

Beatrice.

Bee Meadow

Friends of the Earth has approved our application for a bee meadow in Burngreave crematory.  The most successful time to sow wildflower seeds is August - September and March - April when there is sun and to mimic nature's natural cycle. We will aim for March-April time to plant the wild flower meadow.

Bee Meadow

Beatrice has sent all the relevant forms to the Permaculture Group and the Burngreave Cemetery for them to complete. She is waiting for them to come back to her before we can go any further.

Burngreave Cemetery - Bee Meadow

Beatrice and David met with Saleema from Friends of Burngreave Cemetery and identified a site for the Bee Meadow. It is around 25 square meters to the left of the chapel entrance. It will surround the bee hives that have now been installed. Beatrice has been in contact with National Friends of the Earth and they have sent documents relating to the process.

Some group members asked if we could have a little sign to say Sheffield Friends of the Earth has helped to created the bee meadow. Beatrice is to ask Saleema but there is a concern that it might be vandalised.

Bee Meadow Update - July 2014

The Burngreave Cemetery group has said that they would like to work alongside us to create a bee meadow. Beatrice will contact the regional FoE office to see what to do next and what type of seeds are to be used.

Bee Meadow

Beatrice has been contacted  by Saleema from Permaculture regarding having a Bee Meadow at Burngreave Cemetery. Beatrice, David and Trisha will look into this. We will also contact Transition Sheffield to see if they want to help.

Other News

John and Richard will be attending the Base camp event (conference) in June. Trisha and François maybe part time?

Nothing much is happening with the bee campaign. It seems that there is no place for a bee meadow. Beatrice will ask the council if there is a suitable site.

Bee Cause

No action has happened in the last month. We were unable to hold a stall at B&Q owing to mismatches between members availability over the Easter period and store opening times. John noted that the Abundance Project group is very involved with all things bees and David said that he would contact them to discuss possibilities for a Bee Meadow site.

Bees

John mentioned the Bee Action Plan Workshop taking place on Friday 21 March 1-4pm in York. Defra is hosting 3 workshops (in York, Bristol and London) on its draft National Pollinator Strategy (NPS), the supporting science and consultation questions. This is a good opportunity for Friends of the Earth local groups and activists to attend to let the Government know of the shortcomings of the draft NPS and the need for it to be strengthened before the final NPS is launched in June/July.

Shaun mentioned that he'd received a letter from the co-operative about a local group which is planting a bee meadow. John is to follow this up to see if we can lend a hand.

Bees

Nothing is happening with the bee campaign at the moment. An idea raised was to work with the RSPB to plant a wild flower meadow.

Bee Cause

We have not managed to identify a site to create a bee meadow and the dependency on our group to look after it for at least 2 years means we are going to drop this and spend our time campaigning on other issues.

Bee Meadow - October 2013

John hasn't been able to get in touch with the community group in Sharrow so we have decided to put the bee meadow on hold until the spring when we’ll try again to arrange the planting of a bee meadow.

Bees Update - September 2013

John has been unable to contact the residents’ group at Sharrow to let them know that we are willing to help them to create a bee meadow. John will endeavour to contact them and organise this activity.

More than Honey is a new film about bees. It is suggested that we link up with Showroom cinema to see if they are showing this film. If they are then we could perhaps have a stall and give out some information. If they are not showing the film then perhaps we can show it ourselves. David can hire a lecture theatre at Sheffield university for free. We can also sell drinks and cakes to raise money.

Friends of the Earth have produced new bee postcards for us to use over the next month.

Body Shop has contacted John for some information on bees for their new promotion. There was concern that they are linked with Nestlé and so John is to contact Simon Bowens or Rachel Hubbard for advice. If this goes ahead then we could use the new leaflets at this event.

Bee Meadow - August 2013

The bee meadow was discussed at the meeting and we decided to join forces with residents in the Sharrow area to plant a bee meadow. John will be contacting the local community representatives to organise this.