Science Picnic at Bristol Botanical Gardens

On the 12^th of June we – the Bristol team – participated in a science picnic hosted by the wonderful Bristol University Botanic Gardens. It was a chance for members of the public to come and hear about the work that we do as well as ask us questions. 

Kath, who manages the team,  talked about all three stages of the Urban Pollinators’ project; the work done last year in farmer’s fields, nature reserves and urban areas, the concentration on urban areas in the second year as well as the plans to plant flower meadows in urban areas next year. She also went into detail about the fieldwork her minions are doing across four cities in Britain. Lynne and Clare were on hand to demonstrate our sampling technique, enlightening the crowd whilst pretending to catch nonexistent pollinators. 

We even took along a colony of Bombus terrestris which attracted a lot of interest and detailed questions. We all enjoyed meeting the public to discuss pollinators, and even enjoyed the challenging questions they asked us. Overall it was a very successful evening!