Charlotte Rankin is our guest blogger today. Charlotte works as a Conservation Office for Buglife Scotland and leads on the Pollinators Along the Tweed project.
Pollinators Along the Tweed, a new Buglife Scotland partnership project enhancing and restoring 40 hectares of wildflower-rich habitat along the River Tweed, is set to create a buzz for local pollinators and communities.
Working with Scottish Borders Council, Borders Forest Trust and other landowners in Scotland and north Northumberland, Pollinators Along the Tweed sets to create, enhance and restore 40 hectares of wildflower-rich habitat. Working across 50 sites in towns and villages along the Tweed, as well as the wider countryside, this project will help restore habitat connectivity for pollinating insects, enabling them to move across the landscape and adapt to a changing environment.
Part of the Destination Tweed source-to-sea river revitalisation project, Pollinators Along the Tweed is being made possible with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, AEB Charitable Trust, Craignish Trust, Fallago Environment Fund, J & J R Wilson Trust, Milkywire, NatureScot, Northumbrian Water Group and ScottishPower Foundation.
Running from November 2022 to May 2027, the project will enable communities to learn about, protect and monitor the Tweeds’ pollinators. There will be opportunities to join in practical conservation volunteering, pollinator workshops and walks, citizen science activities and more – from meadow bug hunts to school sessions and wellbeing walks. The project also aims to provide additional support to landowners and managers through habitat management advice and workshops.
Since launching in November 2022, volunteers have been busy bee bank building at Peebles Golf Club, seeding margins of wetland scrapes at Border Forest Trust’s Corehead, and boosting early season flower availability for pollinators at Tweedsmuir and Norham. With the pollinator season getting underway, an events programme is shaping up with opportunities to get involved in pollinator surveying, identification and family activities. So far, children have got involved in crafting hoverfly lagoons and individuals have learnt how to carry out Flower-Insect Timed Counts, with more events on the way – please contact Charlotte.Rankin@buglife.org.uk if you would like to find out more about upcoming events.
Pollinators Along the Tweed further builds on Buglife’s B-Lines and pollinator projects both in Scotland and England. B-Lines present an opportunity to create a network of wildflower-rich areas, providing essential routes for pollinators to use. The B-Lines network includes our best habitats and identifies key areas to restore and create new wildflower-rich meadows, important grassland verges and pollinator friendly gardens. B-Lines can be adopted by farmers and landowners, local authorities and communities. Everyone who manages land can help to restore our pollinator populations.
If your farm, garden, local park or area is within the Tweed B-Line or wider B-Line network and you would like to know more to get involved, please contact Buglife Scotland at scotland@buglife.org.uk. Find out more about the Pollinators Along the Tweed project by visiting buglife.org.uk/projects/pollinators-along-the-tweed.
All images courtesy of Charlotte Rankin
Scottish pollinators 