Nurturing bee life a hive of activity

BUZZING: Connecting Communities manager Sandy Ryan (left) with Sarah Taylor-Waitere, Hoani Paku, Glenda Seville and Andrea Jackson.PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Wildflower seeds were sown in the name of bee awareness in Masterton yesterday, with six members of the community braving the cold wet weather at the Manuka Reserve for the planting.

The team of volunteers from Connecting Communities and the Masterton District Council sowed a 40m2 area with the wildflower seeds to create a bee friendly garden.

Connecting Communities Manager Sandy Ryan arrived to the reserve off Fourth Street armed with a rake and gumboots.

She said, although it was wet and cold, these were perfect conditions to sow the seeds.

"The wet day is perfect for it. The bees will be tucked up but it's really perfect weather for sowing seed," she said.

"It's all about supporting the bee life and production in Masterton. By sowing seeds now, in four to six weeks this area will be a bee friendly wild garden which will provide pollen for food."

Masterton District Council's Maori liason officer Hoani Paku blessed the land before the seeds were sown.

The Manuka Reserve is one of many sites within Wairarapa that have had wildflower seeds purpose-sown as part of the National Beekeepers Association of New Zealand's Bee Aware project.

National Beekeepers Association chief executive Daniel Paul said the purpose of Bee Aware was to educate people about what they could do to protect and preserve the bees.

"Bees are so critically important - not just to our economy but also to our homes and gardens," he said. "We need to plant bee-friendly plants for them to feed on, and also be careful with our use of pesticides and insecticides. We want to preserve what we have got."