MORE than 66 hectares – or 163 football pitches – of lush wildflower habitat have been created in the South Downs National Park to help bees flourish.
Eighteen projects across Hampshire and Sussex have benefitted from a share of almost £95,000 from the South Downs National Park Trust to carry out the Bee Lines initiative.
The project was launched four years ago to create a new network of wildflower corridors to help support bees and other pollinators, with habitats havens at farms, community fields, recreation grounds, road verges, schools, and even cemeteries and golf clubs.
Insect numbers have been declining across the country for several decades and are now under threat from climate change. However, data has shown that wildflower planting is helping bees and butterflies bounce back.
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The corridors provide a “road system” for pollinating insects, allowing them to move through the landscape more easily.
Countryside policy manager, Nick Heasman, from the South Downs National Park, said: “It’s blooming marvellous that thanks to all the donations from the public we’ve been able to create these new havens for pollinators.
“Bees are busy ecosystem engineers and by pollinating flowers they create food for other wildlife and, of course, humans. In fact, one out of every three mouthfuls of our food depends on pollinators such as bees.
“Bee Lines is just one strand of the National Park’s ReNature campaign and it’s incredibly exciting to see nature recovery in action.”
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Prince’s Mead School in Kings Worthy was one of the beneficiaries of the funding. Two years on from planting, a large section of the school grounds is now well-established wildflower meadow.
Teacher Poppy Hughes said: “The children clearly gain a huge amount of educational value from spending time making observations of the flowers and pollinating insects.
"We have without a doubt seen an enormous increase in biodiversity resulting from the new meadow as the children have identified snails, mice, buzzard as well as many species of butterflies and bees.
"In addition to raising children's awareness of the importance of pollinating insects in the food chain, the wildflower meadow is also a wonderful source of peace, beauty and tranquillity.”
For more information or to donate go to southdownstrust.org.uk/beelines/. Anyone interested in future rounds of Bee Lines funding should contact Victoria Crespi at grants@southdowns.gov.uk.
Projects in Hampshire so far:
Princes Mead School, Kings Worthy
Ten sites in the Selborne Landscape Partnership
Corhampton Golf Club
Barn Field, Selborne
Buriton Recreation Ground
Get Blacknest Buzzing, Blacknest Fields, Blacknest, near Bordon
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