This summer (2022) I spent nine full days working at RHS Wisley in the amazing Clore Education Centre teaching the children, and their parents about our amazing wild bees.

I was completely amazed to learn that at school children learn about the honeybee, and usually that’s it. This gave me a great opportunity to expand their knowledge about our bumblebees and our solitary bees but it made me very sad.

Over nine days at Whitsun Half-term around 3-4000 children came through the doors of the education centre with their parents. Each day we had an interactive nature table and either a planting project to plant something good for pollinators, like sunflowers, borage, cosmos and calendula, or a craft session to make a bee mask or a bee postcard to send home.

We had mini bee-safaris and did walks around the Pollinator Garden looking for solitary bees in the bee wall outside.

There was a case of bees from the Entomology Department to show the children the huge diversity of our wild bees and we had microscopes too so that they could look close up at a real bee and see its beauty.

It was great fun and I loved every minute of it. Watch this space, there may be something very new and exciting to share with you very soon.