Field Trip To Griffiths Garden

Our second trip saw us head to Griffiths Park in the city to meet the artist Sarah who is helping in the community garden in town. She is helping us to imagine Auckland as the safest city in the world for bees as part of the For The Love of Bees Project.

Us in the community garden

The trip was interesting and we learned a lot from Sarah about how the bees source food, and how they need to fly thousands of kilometers to get a quarter of a teaspoon of pollen. She also explained how plants have different sugar contents and how pesticide kills the microorganisms that help the plants grow, and reduces their sugar levels, and about the synthetic neonicotinoids that kill bees. We also learnt about how bees wings have limited durability.  Peter and Julian explained how they are starting to put shapes around bee hives so it's easier to find their home. They also shared that they are trying to plant different species of flowers, such as purple clover to provide food at different times of the year.

The team in town

We found out about how synthetic pesticide coating on seeds are one of the main causes behind the bees dying because they not only harm the bees they also kill the microorganisms that are helping the plants grow. This is causing the plants to have low sugar contents.

Julian was telling us how he and a few other schools have been setting up bee hives with different shapes with a unique colour. He said  that they were growing clovers and were planning on growing the different species of flowers so that the bee’s have a food source throughout all of the seasons. Julian was telling us how they are using heat sensors to manage the hives better because the bees heat up the larva to keep them warm. So the implementation of heat sensors will help to manage them better.

Overall it was a really interesting experience to have further improving our understanding of bees. Next step is to start working with the hives ourselves!

~ Aaron