BAT HOSPITAL & BEE FUNDRAISER 2025
Diploma in animal healing students raised an incredible £1,036 for the local Bat Hospital, to help towards the annual £3,000 it costs in mealworms to feed the rehabilitating bats. Amanda, who runs the hospital currently has over 100 bats in her care. Many arrive with torn wings and injuries. Some are near starving as certain times of the year insects are scarce and difficult to hunt. The changing and adverse weather conditions has had an impact on the bat community. Sadly, hardly any fundraising takes place for bats and their food costs. At Healing Animals Organisation we are thrilled to support such a worthy cause. Animals such as bats are fundamental to the eco system and all of nature.
Amanda’s Bee Appeal:- Amanda is a holistic bee keeper with several hives where honey is not always the main aim: however she encourages bee colonies to thrive and increase in numbers and pollinate flowers and forage for the best food.
Amanda is passionate about creating floral habitats for honey bees and loves to share her 20 year plus knowledge with educating talks to encourage us all to “Save the Bees.” A proportion of This fundraiser will be focused on providing suitable habitats and resources such as medicinal plants, flowers and wild bee hives in rural Sussex where Amanda can monitor their progress.
Amanda intersperses her bee work with helping wild pollinators such as Solitary bees, Bumblebees, and thousands of solitary wasps, beetles, flies, butterflies and moths. Elsewhere in the world birds and bats are important pollinators too.
Amanda shares her bee knowledge with enthusiasm and throughout the year suggests we plant the following:-
Plants for bees and butterflies in approximate seasonal order are snowdrops, specie crocus, Viburnhams, trees such as Willow and Hazel for pollen, fruit trees, horse chestnut for nectar and pollen, Sycamore. Raspberries, gooseberries and blackberries (which produce the main honey crop); wild flowers such as Knapweed, vetches, clovers, Birds foot trefoil; Herbs such as Thyme, Chives, Marjoram (a really good plant), Salvias, Nepeta, Lavender. Annuals such as Borage and Phacelia are loved by bees; other herbaceous plants such as Foxgloves and teasel for bumblebees, Echinacea, Comfrey and Pulmonaria and Scabious are valuable. Shrubs such as Cotoneastar and Escallonia are useful nectar sources.
Towards the end of the season Sedum and Asters and Himalayan Water Balsam (an invasive weed though) provide a useful late pollen/nectar source and Ivy flowers are about the last, with Viburnum tinus and V. bodnantense very useful during the winter.
Avoid the double flowers and hybrids which have no nectar, smell or accessible pollen. Sow wildflower seeds and introduce wildflowers into your lawn.
