Stirling group highlighted in Wildlife Trust report
A new report from The Wildlife Trusts has highlighted the efforts of Stirling voluntary group On the Verge to help local pollinator populations.
The report, commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts as part of their Action for Insects campaign, calls on local and national government to reverse the devastating decline in insects.
It highlights that at least 50 per cent of insects have been lost since 1970, while 41 per cent of the Earth’s remaining five million insect species are now‘threatened with extinction”.
Insects are not only the base of the food chain which many other species rely on, but play numerous essential roles in ecosystems, providing food, pollination, recycling, pest control and much more.
The report warns if decisive action isn’t taken now future generations will not be able to enjoy the likes of butterflies, ladybirds, dragonflies and bumblebees, our ability to feed ourselves will be compromised, and many birds, mammals and other species will not survive.
However, it also points out that insect populations can recover quickly given the right conditions and, because they live all around us in gardens, parks, road verges, meadows and hedgerows, we all have a part to play in their recovery.
The report, authored by former Dunblane resident and Professor of Biological Sciences at Stirling
University, Professor Dave Goulson, calls for the creation of insect-friendly habitats in towns, cities and countryside and a significant reduction in the use of harmful chemicals, such as pesticides.
Stirling’s On the Verge which for a decade has been working with schools and community groups to establish areas of native, nectar-rich wildflowers - is used as an illustration of the importance of taking action at a local level.
The group’s founder Leigh Biagi, said:“This report could not have come at a better moment for us. We have been working closely with Stirling Council for some time to revise its management of grassland throughout Stirling in a way that will support nature rather than work against it.”
On the Verge recently launched an online petition, which currently has more than 1,500 signatures, calling for the council to start grass-cutting later in the spring and time the cuts carefully to allow flowers to bloom and feed starving pollinators emerging from hibernation.
The petition has attracted the support of Springwatch presenter and ecologist, Iolo Williams.
Ms Biagi added:“We certainly aren’t asking the council to stop cutting grass altogether, that would make no sense, but to manage the grass-cutting more strategically, with a focus on nature.”
“Cut and collect requires a small investment in specialist machinery. Stirling Council currently spends £848,240 annually on grass-cutting, with some of the open grass throughout Stirling cut up to 14 times a year. The savings they would make by implementing this policy could easily pay for the required machine(s), not to mention reducing greenhouse gas emissions and freeing up manpower for other work.”
TheWildlifeTrusts’report also highlights the damaging impact of pesticide usage on insect populations and calls on local authorities to ban the use of pesticides on the land they manage.
Pesticide Free Stirling founder and director James Byrne said:“There’s absolutely no reason to use pesticides in the places where we live, work and play streets, playgrounds, park, schools, and hospitals. We’re not growing crops and we won’t be overrun by dandelions if we don’t use them. Stirling should join cities like Barcelona, Paris, Toronto and many more that have stopped using pesticides for public and ecological health reasons.”
Pesticide Free Stirling have worked with two of the world’s leading pesticide free alternatives, Foamstream by Weedingtech and Rootwave, to offer trials and demonstrations to Stirling Council this summer. The technologies can even tackle invasive non-native species such as giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed.
The On the Verge petition is still opened and can be signed at: http://chng.it/ XFZBLKtBTy