THE POWER OF PATHWAYS
Buglife is redressing the loss and fragmentation of flower-rich grasslands by creating a network of flowery pathways linking together existing habitats. Its B-Lines project will enable pollinators and other wildlife to move around the country, helping them to expand their ranges and adapt to climate change. “We have already started mapping a network of B-Lines, working with Natural England, local authorities and Wildlife Trusts,” explains Matt Shardlow, Buglife’s chief executive.
Rather than farmers establishing flowery field margins where the public might not see the results, conservationists and the public to make urban habitats even better for pollinators. “The fact that urban areas support pollinators doesn’t mean that we don’t need rural and natural habitats, and equally it doesn’t mean that we should pave over everything. But it does show us what works for pollinators in cities.”
CATASTROPHIC DECLINE
It’s about time, too. In the last 100 years Britain has lost over 97 per cent of its flower-rich grasslands, and up to 50 per cent of its hedgerows in some areas. Many remaining hedges are so badly managed that their wildlife value is negligible. Intensive agriculture has caused a catastrophic decline in plant and animal biodiversity. To date Britain has lost 4 species of butterfly, 62 species of moth, and 23 bee and wasp species. This was the fate suffered by the short-haired bumblebee, which finally died out here in the 1980s and is now being reintroduced to Kent.
The short-haired bumblebee is another long-tongued species. This group of specialist bumblebees barely features in the Urban Pollinators report. “Our study only found 11 rare pollinators, such as the brown-banded carder bee, and the numbers of rarities we counted were
Spring 2015 B-Lines are being created along well-trodden coastal paths, taking in cities wherever possible.
“We’re putting wildflowers back into cities, and it works because everyone can actually see what’s going on,” Matt says. “We spend hundreds of millions of pounds on agrienvironment schemes every year, but the average Joe on the street wouldn’t know the first thing about it. In contrast B-Lines are tangible. People know that they are walking through something that they paid for.”
“IT’S BRILLIANT TO FIND THE SHRILL CARDER BEE SO NEAR THE CITY. FINDING A RARITY LIKE THIS GIVES CONSERVATIONISTS EXTRA IMPETUS.”
so small that it was hard to draw conclusions about them,” Katherine explains. “On the whole, though, they were found in nature reserves not cities. So while our data doesn’t prove that urban areas tend to suit unfussy, generalist pollinators better, it’s safe to assume they do.”
But if two rare insects are able to carve out a living on the outskirts of Central London, why isn’t more being done to cater for other rare pollinators in our cities? “All the evidence suggests that the rarities don’t seem to take to urban areas,” says Dave Goulson, author of A Sting in the Tale and co-founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. “In truth I don’t think we entirely know why, but I guess as a rule of thumb they are just too specialised.”
The UK’s seven bumblebees of highest conservation priority mostly live in pockets of habitat on or near nature reserves, together with other UK BAP species including 81 moth and 24 butterfly species. Goulson is proud that a couple of species are bucking the trend in London, but points out that some of the best urban habitats for pollinators are brownfield sites, many of which are earmarked for development.
“If these bees could thrive in gardens, they wouldn’t be rare in the first place,” Dave says. “Having said that, perhaps if we really ‘went to town’ by planting pollinator-