If you notice a gathering of birds, native stingless bees and butterflies at a local intersection or in nature near your house, it may very well be because Waverley is now hosting some ‘B & B’s’ – part of the B & B Highway.
The B & B (Bed & Breakfasts for Bees, Birds, Butterflies & Biodiversity) Highway is an exciting Sydney initiative that launched in early 2019.
It aims to provide pollinator habitat such as native stingless beehives and nesting boxes located in hubs across suburbs so our pollinators are offered rest and respite. Over 30 B & B’s have been implemented with many more planned.
Waverley and Bondi suburbs were in fact, the first suburbs to host B & B’s, with the Wentworth electorate a recipient of the Federal government’s Stronger Communities Programme funding. Randwick City Council has also supported a B & B at Randwick Public School.
The B & B’s in Waverley are located at the Junction Neighbourhood Centre in Bondi Junction and the Banksia Scrub adjacent to Moriah College. Other B&Bs in the eastern suburbs are at Woollahra fire station in association with the Woollahra Uniting Church, Emanuel Synagogue, St Anne’s Catholic church in Bondi and Community Housing in Bondi.
The B & B Highway aims to create pollinator pathways across Sydney with hubs in public schools and other educational and community centres. Over 30 B&Bs have already been developed and many more are in the pipeline.
The B&B Highway is a key initiative of the not-for-profit organisation PlantingSeeds, which is steered by eastern suburbs resident, Dr Judy Friedlander, who also researches sustainability issues at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney.
Says Dr Friedlander: ‘The initiative aims to help pollinators that are endangered. One in three ‘bites’ of food are connected to pollination, and insects are a vital part of the food chain and also help purify water and soil.
‘Essentially, pollinators are integral to biodiversity and research shows that urban areas can help to counter the decline as they offer biodiversity hotspots.’
The B & B Highway initiative is supported by the NSW Department of Education, which is developing associated curriculum. An exciting part of the project is a citizen science app called Pollinator P.I. (Private Investigator), which school children will be using to contribute to valuable base-line data to assist biodiversity outcomes.
‘We have found that the B & B’s are particularly popular with children who really respond to doing something positive and practical that can help sustainability and biodiversity,’ says Dr Friedlander.
Many of the habitats host native stingless beehives (bees called Tetragonula Carbonaria which don’t in actually fact look like bees at all!
Tips for residents to support pollinators in your own backyard
- Find out what bird species live in your area and which are endangered using the Birdata directory.
- Select plants native to your area – your local nursery can help you out here.
- Plant dense shrubs to allow smaller birds to hide from predatory birds.
- Also add bee-friendly plants such as butterfly bush, bottlebrush, daisies, eucalyptus and angophora gum trees, grevillea, lavender, tea tree, honey myrtle and native rosemary.
- Make your own insect hotel. There is no standard design, because our backyards host a wide range of native insects partial to different natural materials.
If you are interested in your school or community centre hosting a B & B, please get in touch here.
A version of this article also appeared on Second Nature