Volunteers at Battlesbridge station in Essex have received international recognition for their efforts to support bee populations there.
Nathan Dodd and Chris Honeyman, who volunteer with Greater Anglia as station adopters, were commended by the Apimondia Federation during their 48th congress in Chile.
The father and son team have been working to care for the mature trees around the station, which are an important habitat for solitary bees.
Their work has included placing protective covers around the trunks of established and newly planted species of tree and collecting tree seeds to be able to replant, as and when needed.
Chris Honeyman, who has 40 years’ of experience in beekeeping, said: “We have also spent time identifying trees that have the potential to house solitary bees in them and routinely check them to see if we can hear the hum of these little creatures.
“If a mature tree is damaged, we report this through Greater Anglia’s expert arboriculture partners, Railscape, to ensure that they can be removed from site safely and that the work is undertaken in time with the seasons to avoid disruptions of any bees that might be housed under the bark.
“We are delighted that our work has been recognised by the Apimondia Federation and we will continue our work of preserving and encouraging bees and other wildlife to call Battlesbridge station their home.”
In addition, the pair have been working to support wildlife in general, by extending the garden area and creating a wildflower meadow at the station, which is on the Crouch Valley Line between Wickford and Southminster. Their initiatives have been delivered in collaboration with, and with support from, both Greater Anglia and the Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership.
Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Engagement Manager, Alan Neville, said: “We are really grateful to Chris and Nathan for the great work they are doing to enhance biodiversity at Battlesbridge station.
“Our station adopters are real heroes who achieve amazing things to benefit their communities and make them better places to live, with their enthusiasm to bring rural stations to life and restore their links to the communities they serve.”
Greater Anglia’s Station Adoption scheme sees over 330 local people getting involved with enhancing their local rail stations for the benefit of their communities across the region.
Many of them are working to increase biodiversity at their rail stations to help provide a sanctuary for fragile local wildlife populations, with the railway increasingly being recognised by ecologists as a ‘green corridor’ where many different kinds of flora and fauna can thrive.
Photo credit: Greater Anglia
