The Wild Bee Festival came to Waterford on 22 and 23 August. It is run each year by the National Biodiversity Data Centre as part of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, and this year it was organised with us here at the B Corridor. Tickets were gone well before the weekend, and people travelled from different parts of Ireland to be there.
Saturday: getting to know our bees
Cecily Maher opened with an introduction to the B Corridor.
Dr Úna FitzPatrick of the National Biodiversity Data Centre, also co-founder of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, followed with an introduction to Ireland’s bees - the groups of species we have here, what each does and how, and how their life cycles work.
Kate Chandler then spoke on how communities can help pollinators. Like every speaker over the weekend, she came back to the same two-part point: what you do on your own patch counts, and it counts for a lot more when your neighbours and community are doing it too.
After lunch, Dr Fiona MacGowan drew on her work with Abbeyleix Tidy Towns and a long run of success stories from communities she has worked with - practical, tested, and encouraging if you have ever wondered whether the small steps add up.
Three short talks closed the afternoon. Simon Dowling, who lives along the B Corridor, traced his own route into biodiversity, from caterpillars and a few microhabitats to a garden it eventually took over.
Brian Jacob told the story of Waterford Trees for Life and their work of “Greening Waterford, one tree at a time”, where the planting matters but educating the next generations is the bigger job.
Jane Fraher described how the Three Sisters Women’s Shed in Waterford is growing from keeping fabric out of the bin into pollinator-friendly planting, natural dyeing, upcycling, and skills passed between people who might otherwise never have met.
Alongside it all, artist Siobhán Clancy ran the Cross Pollinator Station, a drop-in space for making something by hand, and the Central Library Craft group displayed their biodiversity quilt.
Sunday: out on the Corridor
Sunday began indoors with Micheál Kavanagh of the Déise Men’s Shed and Ciarán Byrne, Senior Ecologist with FERS, on how a community can write its own Biodiversity Action Plan.
Then everyone went outside. Denis Kennedy led a walk along the Corridor and the Maypark nature trail, and the sun came out for it. The pollinator-friendly patches at the start of the route were busy with bees and butterflies, which saved us having to argue the case. It was also the first chance to show the new biodiversity signage to a crowd - you will find the signs at the Glenville, Maypark Village and Ballinakill entrances to the riverwalk.
Thanks
To the National Biodiversity Data Centre, to every speaker who gave up a weekend, to Denis for leading the walk, and to everyone who travelled, asked questions and talked to strangers over the tea and sandwiches. That last part is most of what makes a weekend like this work.
If you are wondering where to start, the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan’s Top Ten Ways to Help Pollinators is a good first stop. If you would like to do something closer to home, get in touch. There is room for everyone along the Corridor! And if you would rather support the work directly, our donation page goes live shortly: every contribution goes into the B Corridor project.
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