High Peak & Hope Valley Community Rail Partnership (CRP) has launched a new booklet to help families and visitors explore nature in the local area.
The Buzzing Stations booklet is designed to promote sustainable travel and increase connection with nature by highlighting 10 family-friendly walking routes from railway stations in the Peak District, where it’s likely bees and other pollinators can be spotted.
The idea for the booklet began in 2021 when volunteers from the friends of Glossop and Buxton stations heard about the Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s Pollinating the Peak project, and were keen to see how station groups could play a part in boosting biodiversity. This included planting bee-friendly plants at stations, learning how to identify different bumblebees and organising bumblebee walks for their local communities.
Now families can join in by following the rail trails in the Buzzing Stations booklet, collated by the station friends groups in the area and designed by illustrator Amy Glover. A bumblebee identification chart is included to help families tell their Bilberry Bumblebee from their Common Carder Bee.
Helen Wright, High Peak & Hope Valley CRP Officer, said: “We’re delighted to have launched the Buzzing Stations booklet. We’re grateful for the input of the station friends volunteers, and to CrossCountry for their generous funding.”
David Jones, stakeholder manager at CrossCountry, said: “This project is a great example of how community rail is about so much more than trains – it’s about helping people explore their local area sustainably and promoting biodiversity too.
“It’s great to see the booklet in print and I’m delighted CrossCountry’s Community Engagement Fund was able to fund it.”
The Buzzing Stations booklet is free and available to collect at some railway stations and tourist information centres in High Peak and the Hope Valley, including Peak District National Park visitor centres. It can also be downloaded here.
Keep up to date with future news, projects and events from the High Peak & Hope Valley CRP via their website.
