All Nature: Positively Buzzing

Meeting organisations celebrated and funded by the West of England Combined Authority’s Bee Bold Awards and Pollinator Fund. 

In this episode of the Carbon Copy Podcast’s All Nature series, we discover the ambitious work of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), which hopes to make the region the UK Pollinator Capital by 2030. We hear from Sophie Spencer, Senior Environment Manager at WECA about why nature recovery and, in particular, pollinators, are such an important focus for the organisation. We learn about the Bee Bold Awards, a unique annual celebration of local groups and businesses that are doing something special for nature and we hear from some of the organisations that have received support as part of WECA’s pollinator programme: Co-forest, Middle Ground Growers, Black Seeds Network, St. Peter’s Hospice and Really Wild Lockleaze. 

“We’ve invested over 10 million in nature in the West of England in total. From the tiniest little pocket park, to big nature recovery projects at landscape scale. It’s been really exciting, but at the same time, we know that nature needs a lot more investment. So, we’ve been talking to businesses, helping them understand their impacts on nature, and hoping to drive more investment into the West of England so we can achieve our ambitions. We can’t do it on our own. It’s about us working together”  – Sophie Spencer 

Listen, to learn: 

• About the wide range of different organisations that have received Bee Bold Awards and why supporting pollinators is important to them. 

• More about the different environments that can support pollinator numbers – in towns, cities and in more rural settings. 

• How WECA is working with organisations to support community engagement and to promote inclusion in nature recovery projects. 

Show Notes

• Listen to the bonus episode Black Seeds Network: Nature Rising: https://carboncopy.eco/podcasts/bonus-episode-nature-rising
• Discover more stories about communities, councils and companies working with nature: https://carboncopy.eco/initiatives?search_term=&filter-local_area=&filter-action_area%5B%5D=1743 
• Learn more about the Bee Bold Awards on Carbon Copy: https://carboncopy.eco/initiatives/bee-bold-awards 
• Read more about Co-forest on Carbon Copy: https://carboncopy.eco/initiatives/co-forest
• Learn more about Middle Ground Growers on Carbon Copy: https://carboncopy.eco/initiatives/middle-ground-growers 
• Read about Really Wild Lockleaze: https://www.lockleazehub.org.uk/really-wild-lockleaze
• Learn more about St. Peter’s Hospice: https://www.stpetershospice.org/ 

The winners of the Bee Bold Awards 2024 celebrate at the awards event at Redcatch Community Garden. Credit: Freia Turland.