The new bees on the Lyric Hammersmith's roof will help add to biodiversity in H&F - and hopefully make great honey too!
Hammersmith has gained 180,000 new allies in the bid to boost local biodiversity and help wildlife in the borough.
The colony of honey bees has been given a home on the roof of the Lyric Theatre as part of the organisation’s work, in conjunction with HammersmithLondon BID - which shares the same building.
The three new hives will help bolster dwindling numbers of the honey-makers, which are vital for human survival as they pollinate so many food sources.
“We welcome this superb initiative from our friends at the Lyric which will help in the council’s ambition to become the greenest borough in Britain,” said Cllr Wesley Harcourt, H&F Cabinet Member for Environment.
“It ties in with the many other initiatives we’re working on in conjunction with our resident-led Biodiversity Commission, to create ‘green corridors’ and make this a place where people and wildlife thrive side-by-side.
“Our work to turn part of the Fulham riverside into a haven for nature, and introduction of wildlife-friendly parklets, are just a couple of examples of new projects to make H&F a better home for nature.”
Making H&F a better home bees
As recently highlighted by Sir David Attenborough, in just five years the global bee population has dropped by one third.
“Our new bees will help us to have a positive impact on the environment, something we continually strive to take direct action to address,” said Sian Alexander, Executive Director at the Lyric Hammersmith.
“It only felt right that the Lyric Hammersmith should do what we can to help these amazing insects continue to do what they do best. I’m delighted to welcome them to their new home on the Lyric’s green sedum roof. We all look forward to tasting their honey and learning more about these incredible creatures.”
The Lyric hopes to have its own brand of honey, produced by the colony, available in future.
The theatre’s green plant roof provides foliage for wildlife as well as reducing rainwater run-off, to help prevent localised flooding.
BID Director at HammersmithLondon, Patricia Bench, said: “The BID is delighted to partner with the Lyric on this project as part of our commitment to creating a greener and friendlier town centre in Hammersmith.
“We encourage other businesses and residents to include bee-friendly planting in their gardens and look forward to trying our Hammersmith honey.”
H&F Biodiversity Commission
The resident-led Biodiversity Commission was launched in January 2017 to seek ways to encourage wildlife back to urban areas to live happily alongside residents.
Find out more about the commission membership and its work.
The Greenest Borough
We’re constantly trying to find ways to make our urban landscape more wildlife friendly and more green, pleasant place to live and work.
Find out the different ways we’re striving to become the greenest borough in Britain and how you can help here.
Want to read more news stories like this? Subscribe to our weekly e-news bulletin.
By sending us a comment, you are agreeing to our publishing policy.
