After nearly two years, Buglife’s Urban Buzz Leicester project has come to an end after working with local community groups to bring bees, beetles and butterflies into the heart of Leicester and smashing all of its targets!
Thanks to the enthusiasm and hard work of 561 volunteers and dedicated partners, 112 Buzzing Hotspots were enhanced for pollinators with wildflowers, bug-friendly garden plants, flowering shrubs, nesting habitat and a host of other work. Urban Buzz Leicester worked in high profile locations such as Abbey Park, Victoria Park and Castle Hill Country Park and with partners including Leicester City Council, the University of Leicester, Naturespot and the network of committed Friends of Groups- all working together to bring colour and wildlife backs to our parks and open spaces.
Buglife is also pleased to announce that the joint Winners of the Best Buzzing Hotspot for Leicester are The University of Leicester for the efforts of their staff and volunteers across their campuses. The Runner Up was awarded to Leicester City Council’s Paul Barker and Mick Eaton for their work on Glenhills Boulevard.
Nationally the Urban Buzz projects enhanced over 325ha across 956 Buzzing Hotspots with the help of over 12,000 volunteers, across Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Falmouth, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Plymouth, St Austell, Truro, Wadebridge and York.
Helen O’Brien, Senior Conservation Officer at Leicester City Council commented, “Pollinating insects are in severe decline across the world, but we have worked hard in Leicester to create over 100 Buzzing hotspots across the city over the last 18 months.”
Jamie Robins, Projects Manager at Buglife commented, “The Urban Buzz project has been a fantastic community effort making a real difference for our precious pollinators. It’s heartening the people of Leicester have banded together to bring colour and wildlife back to their parks and open spaces! Thank you to all of the amazing volunteers, partners and funders”.
Gillian French, Head of Grants, Biffa Award said: “At a time when our natural world is in decline projects like this one couldn’t be more vital. It is fantastic to be able to support Urban Buzz and exciting to watch the work going from strength to strength. Brand new habitats are being created for pollinators and we can’t wait to see the impact this will have on local wildlife.”
Urban Buzz Leicester was made possible thanks to the generous support of Biffa Award, National Lottery Heritage Fund, People’s Postcode Lottery and Garfield Weston Foundation.
