.JPG)
Anglian Water has teamed up with conservation charity Buglife to create a wildflower areas and drought resistant garden at its Huntingdon headquarters.
The gardens will provide a vital habitat for bugs, butterflies and bees as well as a welcome splash of colour to the town centre site.
Grassed areas on Grammar School Walk will be dug up and seeded with a mixture of wildflowers, while at the rear of the building a bug hotel made form old water pipes will provide a home for creepy crawlies.
Mike Drew, Anglian Water’s Biodiversity Action Plan Scientist, said: “Anglian Water owns a lot of land, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest, but every patch of ground can have value for wildlife.
“That’s what Buglife’s Pollen Nation project is about. The plan is to transform patches of grass in towns and cities around the country into places full of colourful, pollen-rich plants for insects.
“Many bees and other pollinating insects are declining, but the plants they pollinate include the crops we eat. Our survival is linked to theirs and we have to do what we can to help them.
“Wildflower patches like the ones we are planting act as stepping stones, helping the insects to spread around the country and to thrive.”
Come the spring and the ox-eye daisies and other wildflowers will attract butterflies and many different types of bumble bee. Meanwhile, the bug hotel will provide living quarters for more bees, ladybirds and lacewings.
Mike said: “People may well have noticed the grass outside the building looking a bit long. We let it grow to see if there were any plants of interest there before we dug them up. It may look a bit bare over this winter but come the spring we should be able to put on a real display.”
He added: “If this works well we’ll look to create wildflower gardens at our other sites around the region.”