New ‘Bee Cafes’ at Beccles Station to Help Boost Wildlife

New planters have been installed at Beccles rail station to help foster to local wildlife. The ‘Bee Cafes’ are three-tiered pollinator-friendly planters provided through a grant from Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Improvement Fund. They were installed by the East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership and the team of volunteer station adopters.

The four new planters were filled with flowers to help support bees with the middle tier planted with flowers to support butterflies. They’re self-watering to ensure the plants thrive during extra hot and dry spells.

East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Officer officer Thalia Woodgate, who organised the project and helped on the day, said:

“We were delighted to receive funding for four bee cafes. It means that the platforms at Beccles, rather than being concrete ‘dead spots’ for wildlife, can now offer pollinators food, shelter and a place to rest as they navigate from habitat to habitat. Providing such oases can help to make wildlife populations more resilient and, therefore, we hope will give them a much-needed boost.

“I would like to thank the station adopter volunteers at Beccles for their help and hard work in bringing this project to fruition – we were all delighted to see a bee land the moment our planting was finished.”

Greater Anglia’s Partnerships Manager, Scott Dolling, said:

“We were pleased to support this initiative which highlights the great work being done to support pollinators and other wildlife thanks to the amazing work of the CRPs and the station adopter volunteers across our network.

“We are always looking to enhance the role of the railway in support of the communities it serves, and our new Customer and Community Improvement Fund is a way of supporting more locally focused enhancements in line with community needs.”

Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Improvement Fund is designed to help deliver local, community-focused rail improvements across its network.

This scheme is aimed at supporting initiatives which provide community benefits and enhance rail’s positive role in society. Ideas proposed can be put forward by local organisations or bodies, such as community rail partnerships, station adopters, local authorities or parish councils, community groups, charities, or other stakeholders along the routes served by the train operator.

Rail stations along the East Suffolk Line and the rest of the Greater Anglia network are increasingly becoming havens for local wildlife thanks to the efforts of more than 330 volunteers; these station adopters have so far transformed over 10,000 square metres of land into thriving wildlife station gardens.