Blue Banded Bee – Photo: Alan Moore

By: Michael Fox

Jenny sent this excellent video of a local Blue Banded Bee Amegilla cingulata visiting Blue Ginger Dichorisandra thyrsiflora growing in her Mt Gravatt backyard.

Jenny said “The shrub comes up out of the ground once a year and flowers and the bees do love it. I’m not sure if its native or imported but I know the bees are as I went to a talk you had in the Mt Gravatt Library about doing a green corridor from Mt Gravatt reserve so the bees could migrate. They seem to have migrated. They visit when flowers are blooming.”

I was able to identify the Blue Ginger flower using the useful Flower Pictures site. Blue Ginger is not an Australian native, it comes from Brazil. However, it is a tropical plant and seems to be happy in Jenny’s sub-tropical backyard.

Our local Blue Banded Bees certainly like this attractive Brazilian import, so it may be a valuable addition to Pollinator Link species and help create a wildlife corridors for our native birds, butterflies and bees.

Jenny contacted me with this video because as she said:  “I’m worried about the impact of the apartment corridor will have on the native animals and birds etc living in the Mt Gravatt Central area. Up to Grenfell Street is zoned as apartment and it will be a concrete jungle. At least my house is safe. I have no desire to sell knowing it will only be bulldozed for redevelopment.”

This transformation of our suburbs with more high rise unit building is definitely going to a challenge for our wildlife as well as existing residents.

Though our Pollinator Link initiative we aim to build wildlife corridors using backyard and at the same time highlight the importance for maintaining a balance between more buildings and roads, and the green space so important for both wildlife and the health of residents.