Let's get your patch started
Your Pollinator Patch brings together flowers, nesting opportunities and wildlife watching in one small space. Get your hotel into position, sow your flowers and then give your patch time to grow, change and attract visitors.
What's in your patch?
-
Pollinator Hotel
Your hotel provides hollow nesting spaces that suitable solitary bees may choose to investigate and use. Keep an eye on the tube entrances for some of the first signs of activity.
-
Pollinator-Friendly Flowers
Your flowers provide visiting pollinators with sources of nectar and pollen. As they grow and begin to bloom, watch which flowers attract visitors and how activity changes over time.
-
Learn & Explore
Your patch is somewhere to watch as well as grow. Look for visiting wildlife, signs of nesting activity and seasonal changes, and use Learn & Grow to find out more about what you discover.
Start your Pollinator Patch
-
Set up your hotel
Choose a sunny, sheltered position and fix your hotel securely with the nesting tubes facing south or south-east. Once it's in place, leave it undisturbed and watch for visitors investigating the openings.
-
Sow your flowers
Fill your nursery pot with compost, sow your wildflower seeds following the supplied instructions and keep the compost appropriately watered while they establish. As your flowers develop, they'll begin creating a source of food for visiting pollinators.
-
Start exploring
You don't need to wait for everything to be fully grown before you start looking. Watch your hotel, flowers and the space around them for visiting insects, changes in your plants and other signs of wildlife activity.
Keep exploring
Your Pollinator Patch will keep changing as your flowers grow, the seasons move on and different wildlife comes and goes. Take a closer look at the visitors you find, learn what to watch for and discover ways to record what's happening in your patch.