Volunteers from RSPB's Garnock Valley Futurescape project and Scottish Wildlife Trust joined up to create a new "Des Res" for pollinating insects last month with the help of Irvine Golf Course in Ayrshire. It was hard work, but all made well worth it, when (after some serious shoveling) our fantastic new bee bank emerged, glistening from the sand.
RSPB and Scottish Wildlife Trust volunteers after a hard day’s work creating this lovely south-facing bee bank at Irvine Golf Course. © Jo Kingsbury.
The work on Irvine Golf Course was part of a wider local landscape-scale conservation initiative called the Irvine to Girvan Nectar Network, which aims to create better, more connected habitat for pollinators along the Ayrshire coast. The project links conservation organisations such as Scottish Wildlife Trust and RSPB with local landowners and businesses including golf courses and factories, who want to improve their land for wildlife. It focuses on improving vital habitat for pollinating insects like bees and butterflies for example, through the creation of wildflower meadows and sandy nesting habitat.
In the last 40 years, 95% of the UK’s wildflower habitats have been lost. This has lead to a decline in pollinating insects which are vital for pollinating our crops. Restoring wildflower-rich habitats like this meadow near Irvine (top © Gill Smart) and creating sandy nesting habitats for insects like this natural bee bank (bottom © Jo Kingsbury) is an important step for helping our pollinating insects thrive.
Sunny, sandy banks like the one we created at Irvine provide vital nesting and basking sites for a range of pollinating insects. They are specifically important for solitary bees like northern colletes and tormentil mining bee - both important and nationally scarce species which are found locally in Ayrshire. The bees will excavate holes into the sandy substrate and lay their eggs. The best banks for bees are those that face south or south east, as these benefit from the sun’s heat for the maximum period each day. This means that the bee’s nests remain at an optimum temperature for eggs to develop and hatch.
The northern colletes mining bee is an important but scarce species found locally in Ayrshire. If you’re lucky, you might spot one in the dunes basking in the sun on top of hogweed (top © Harry Richards). It creates its nest burrows in sandy south-facing dune slopes (bottom ©Wikicommons).
With an abundance of sand and plenty of wildflower-rich heathland nearby to provide nectar food sources for prospecting tenants, an out of play area on Irvine Golf Course made the perfect spot to create a new bee bank. Geographically, the course is also well placed for habitat improvement work; it sits close by to the Ardeer Peninsula, thought to be one of the most important sites for bees in Scotland.
Ardeer Peninsula (above © Jo Kingsbury) is thought to be one of the most important sites in Scotland for bees and wasps. A recent survey by the conservation charity Buglife found more than 100 different species of Bees and Wasps on a tiny 8ha site - Many of these were scarce and declining species.
The ground work was done by a digger, kindly provided by Irvine Golf Course. It had no problem roughly excavating the main trench and sheer bank in just a couple of hours. The attention to detail came later, when our dedicated volunteers stepped in to perfect the new bank. Hummocks and edges were shaped and smoothed by hand – all with the aim of providing the best possible habitat for bees. The work was made easy by the glorious sunshine – the first time this year our roving volunteers have been able to take off some layers!
The initial work was done by a digger (top © Jo Kingsbury). RSPB and Scottish Wildlife Trust volunteers tweaked the freshly excavated bank to make it just right for prospecting bees (bottom © Jo Kingsbury).
Altogether a fantastic day, for both volunteers and bees! It wouldn’t have been possible without the help from all parties. A big thank you to Irvine Golf Course for providing the machinery and land to undertake the work. Also thanks to R&A who help to fund the Irvine to Girvan Nectar Network, making local projects like this possible.