Five actions that will make your farm more pollinator friendly:
Protecting pollinators to protect how current and
future generations of farmers can use the land.
Five actions that will make your farm more pollinator friendly:
1 Maintain good quality hedgerows:
flowering hedgerows that contain Hazel,
Willow, Blackthorn and Hawthorn
provide food in spring when wild bees
come out of hibernation. Bramble is a
good source of food in summer, and Ivy
in the autumn. Cut hedgerows every
three years, or cut a third annually.
The base of the hedgerow shouldn’t be
sprayed to leave flowering plants like
Clovers, Vetches and Knapweed which
provide additional food throughout the
season. Keep any sandy, earth, or earth
and stone banks to provide nest sites for
solitary bees.
2 Allow wildflowers to grow around the
farm: flowers/weeds like Dandelion,
Clovers, Knapweed, Vetches and
Creeping thistle growing along lanes
and in field corners provide vital food
sources for bees.
3 Plant nectar and pollen rich trees and
shrubs: good native species are Willow,
Hazel, Hawthorn, and Blackthorn. Fruit
trees are also a great food source.
4 Provide nesting areas around the
farm: bumblebees nest in patches of
long tussocky grass or nettles. Most Irish
solitary bees nest on bare ground that
isn’t too compacted, or in south/east
facing banks of bare earth (soil, sand,
clay, peat).
5 Maximise wildflowers within field
margins/buffer strips: cut field margins
and buffer strips only once or twice
annually. Cutting should ideally occur
before April, with a late cut taken in early
September (ideally followed by aftermath
grazing). This gives wildflowers a chance
to set seed, retains late forage sources
for pollinators, and avoids disturbance
of late stage bumblebee nests.
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