It's a bee buffet' The pollinator pathways turning drab alleyways into insect havens

Take a closer look at the colourful plants dotted along an initially unassuming Bristol alleyway and you'll see them teeming with insects.

- Emma Snaith

Take a closer look at the colourful plants dotted along an initially unassuming Bristol alleyway and you'll see them teeming with insects. Bumblebees, hoverflies and ladybirds throng around a mixture of catmint, yarrow, geraniums and anemones. "It's buzzing with pollinators now," Flora Beverley says gleefully.

Just over a year ago, the alley we're walking down was a dreary, litter-strewn dumping ground. But now, thanks to the Pollinator Pathways Project, it's filled with nectar-rich plants, and bee hotels and colourful murals line the walls.

A neighbour and her son passing by stop to tell Beverley that they watered the plants yesterday - the community that helped to transform the pathways continues to maintain them too.

A trail runner and fitness influencer, Beverley started the project after a chronic illness left her unable to spend as much time running in the countryside. She wanted to bring more nature into her local community and, at the same time, help to connect important nearby habitats in Bristol, including parks and the Northern Slopes nature reserve, with insect-friendly corridors.

The project took off unexpectedly powerfully, and in the space of a year local groups have revamped a total of seven alleyways around the south of the city. Most transformations take place over a weekend; volunteers and mural artists pile in, and it's funded by small grants, street collections and donations from local businesses.

"The things that are good for nature tend to be very good for people too," Beverley says. "We're lucky to have so many green spaces in Bristol but there is a lack of connection between them. Habitat fragmentation is a big issue."