Pollinator Strategy - 2022 Progress Report

Pollinator-friendly planting and sympathetic regime of grass cutting across substantial areas of East Ayrshire Council estate (S)

East Ayrshire Council

Creation of a new hedges for wildlife, consisting solely of pollinator-friendly native species. Over 1,500 hawthorn, blackthorn, dog rose, elder, crab apple saplings planted in Dean Castle Country Park, Kilmarnock. In addition areas planted up with fruiting tree/shrub species supplemented with forget-me-not, wildflower species and yellow rattle. Wildflower seed bombs were added to a Growing Memories garden in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland.

As part of the Coalfield Communities Landscape Partnership (CCLP), the East Ayrshire Coalfield Environment Initiative is working with landowners and local communities to create or enhance pollinator habitat on derelict Open Cast Coal sites, in Community green spaces and along active travel routes in the CCLP area.

Falkirk Pollinator Parks – creating flower-rich habitat for pollinators, and pollinator ‘stepping stones’, within and across urban parks in Falkirk and linking to the John Muir Pollinator Way. (S)

Buglife

Falkirk Council

Project complete:

These sites are now being managed in-house by Falkirk Council using cut-and-lift equipment.

Glasgow public park improvements for nature (L)

Glasgow City Council

40,000 pollinator-friendly bulbs planted at Ruchill Park and Queen’s park, 640 square metres meadow managed, with wildflower plugs and bulbs planted with help from TCVs Glasgow Midweek volunteer group. 500 wildflower plugs planted at Queen’s Park by volunteers. TCV meadow management carried out at Elder Park, Necropolis, Ruchill Park and Springburn Park.

Aberdeen City Council reduction of intensive management of public greenspaces. Encouraging wildflowers, helping pollinating insects, and creating multi-functional greenspaces that support people and nature. (L)

Aberdeen City Council

Several sites were selected to be managed in a less intensive fashion at Culter Bypass, Fernielea Park. Kingswells Bypass, Eric Hendrie Park - Stonehaven Road, Riverside Drive, Garthdee Road, Raeden Park, Parkway former Trunk Road Verges, Skene Road Verges, and Riverview Drive.

Angus coastal grassland and meadow enhancements for pollinators. (L)

Angus Council

Butterfly Conservation

Tayside Biodiversity Partnership

Siteworks and community led planting have created opportunities to enhance species-rich coastal grasslands at various sites. Habitat enhancement contributes to support work started in 2014 to create kidney vetch stepping stones supporting small blue butterfly.

Brechin Den – urban wetland creation scheme (M)

Angus Council

A scheme to de-culvert a watercourse in Brechin town centre has provided an opportunity to develop urban wetland and meadow pollinator habitat that includes flowering species as well as trees. Interpretation has been prepared for the site and further winter- and spring-flowering bulbs are to be planted. Buglife visited the site, found colonies of mining bees, and are providing advice on further enhancements.

The John Muir Pollinator Way is an inspirational landscape-scale project with considerable pollinator corridor potential. This was Scotland’s first B-Line and created a connected habitat network along the route. (L)

Buglife

Green Action Trust

SG, NatureScot, CSGNT and Greggs Foundation funding meant target number of pollinator hotspots was exceeded. 32 sites, 8 hectares, along the 134-mile John Muir Way created and enhanced, working in partnership with Local Authorities. An audit has been carried out reviewing opportunities to extend the project remit beyond the immediate confines of the route.

Encouraging the inclusion of pollinator needs by creating a pollinator-friendly award recognising community creation of space managed for pollinators. (M)

KSB

NatureScot

Annual award under the ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ scheme run by KSB; an award funded by NatureScot. The 2022 winner (as in 2021) was Yorkhill Green Spaces for their community-focused pollinator-friendly work in Glasgow.

Encouraging Green Infrastructure Fund grantees to maximise the benefits to pollinators within the design and management of their projects. (M)

NatureScot

GISI (Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention)

Completed projects at Melfort Park (Clydebank), Fernbrae Meadows (South Lanarkshire), Middlefield Park (Aberdeen) have prominent pollinator-friendly elements.

In the final year of the Garnock Connections Landscape Partnership several pollinator-friendly outcomes were delivered. ‘Garnock’s Buzzing’ has been a flagship pollinator project for several partners. (M)

North Ayrshire Council

RSPB

Scottish Wildlife Trust

Buglife

SRUC

In addition to actions reported on in earlier Annual Pollinator Progress reports further wildflower meadows were created at a residential care home near Kilwinning. SRUC published a report on the importance of roadside verges as pollinator habitat.

As part of Garnock Connections Community Habitat Restoration project Barmill Conservation Group created 180m² of flood meadow near the village of Barmill.‘Growing for Garnock’ planted 5227 wildflower plug plants propagated from locally-collected seed. Relaxed mowing regimes continue to be carried out on the previously-created wildflower meadows.

The Irvine to Girvan Nectar Network (IGNN) is a Scottish Wildlife Trust-led partnership which builds connected habitat networks for wild pollinators and increases the resilience of local pollinator populations. (L)

Steered by Scottish Wildlife Trust

NatureScot

North Ayrshire Council

South Ayrshire Council

During 2022 the IGNN had 6 sites monitored regularly by volunteers, created 12 new meadows, trialled the use of green hay to make large meadows, initiated the Ayrshire Wild Apple Tree Pollinator project and sowed Kidney Vetch at 7 sites -building upon the Small Blue butterfly project.

The sites supported and enhanced included Eglinton Country Park, areas of rough at Royal Troon GC course and 2ha of public greenspace. All the new meadow managers committed to care for them into the future.

Inner Forth Habitat Network. Covering CSGN areas of Stirling, Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Fife. (M)

Inner Forth Futures

Promotion and advocacy of the Inner Forth Habitat Network (map and Call-to-Action) and Ecological Coherence approach undertaken by members of the Inner Forth Natural Heritage Working Group. Including through webinar to launch the Habitat Network and Map, presentation to Regional Land Use Partnership Coordinators Network Meeting, by collectively responding to draft NPF4 consultation and with documentation available at a range of face to face events and site visits throughout the year.

Identifying opportunities to deliver habitat management, enhancement, restoration and creation across a suite of five key habitats (river and wetland; peatland and heathland; grassland and open mosaic; intertidal; woodland) plus urban areas. The Habitat Network is an example of a regional contribution to Scotland’s Nature Network.

Inner Forth Wetland Network. Capital work at four wetland sites identified within the Inner Forth Habitat Network. (Stirling, Falkirk and Fife) (S)

Inner Forth Futures

Project completed in 2020-21.  NatureScot’s Biodiversity Challenge Fund 20-21 funded delivery of the Inner Forth Wetland Network at 4 sites: Bluther Burn, Fife (Fife Council); Bothkennar Pools, Falkirk (Falkirk Council); Carron Dams, Falkirk (Scottish Wildlife Trust); Kildean, Stirling (Stirling Council).

Outputs: 0.5ha new wildflower meadow, 1,050 trees planted, various measures for conservation grazing.

Pollinators along the Tweed (L)

Buglife

Tweed Forum

Scottish Borders Council

‘Pollinators Along the Tweed’ forms part of the Destination Tweed project. The lead organisation is the Tweed Forum. Funding for a development phase came from National Lottery Heritage Fund, NatureScot, Scottish Borders Council. Funding for the project itself contains a wider grouping of funders.

The project will be implemented during a five-year delivery period commencing in 2022, and aims to create, restore, and enhance up to 40 hectares of wildflower-rich habitat across 50 sites. PoMS FIT Count work will be included in this project.

Council Climate Change strategy recognises the importance of pollinators in helping to tackle climate change by highlighting them as a recommended mechanism for climate action (L)

Clackmannanshire Council

Improving air quality, achieving negative emissions and providing resilience to climate-related disturbances through tree planting, pollinator and biodiversity-focused initiatives.

Glasgow City Council implements its own Pollinator Plan, which ensures that the city has a positive approach to creating pollinator-friendly habitat. Hogganfield Park Local Nature Reserve and Queen’s Park are now designated Pollinator Parks. (M)

Glasgow City Council

Pollinator Plan actions are included in Glasgow’s Biodiversity Annual Monitoring Report and will be included in future Biodiversity Duty Reports. Habitat management and creation of wildflower areas allied to new signage to raise awareness of pollinators and climate change. Managed for Pollinators signage used - making the link between biodiversity, pollinators and climate action

Management of parks and greenspaces for environmental benefits.

Piloting the use of red clover on path edges and verges to reduce maintenance and provide pollinator forage. (S)

Falkirk Council

During March 2021 – October 2022 Falkirk Council ran a Sustainable Grass Management Pilot Project. The project included 35 pilot sites (parks, wide road verges and other council-owned greenspaces) where management was made more sustainable and better for the environment. The changes included: creating extensive areas of naturalised grass, creating strips of wildflower meadow, planting spring bulbs, planting fruit trees, planting areas of native broadleaves. Detailed project analysis demonstrated that the work delivered benefits for well-being, climate and particularly biodiversity. In October 2022 Falkirk Council approved the roll-out of similar enhancements across most of its other parks and greenspaces. Work to deliver this extensive roll-out is ongoing.

Reducing roadside verge management focus on a 1m strip where services are based: out with this strip flowers are flourish as per cycle. By cutting the 1m strip we have improved pollinator provision by the timing of maintenance which allows a second if not third flowering depending on the regime. Pollinator-friendly provision has included in Hermitage Park in Helensburgh restoration project.

Public realm works in our six towns (Oban, Dunoon, Lochgilphead, Campbeltown, Helensburgh and Rothesay) which have included both perennial and annual planting as part of contributing to the green network. (M)

Argyll and Bute Council

The Council’s cutting regime remains sympathetic to pollinator needs.   Working with Islay Wildlife Trust continues to enable the Council to extend the reach of preferred roadside verge management practices. The council also continues to contribute to the Buglife B-Lines project in the Argyll and our islands.

On the Verge is a project that works with local schools and community groups to manage pollinator-friendly sites in the Stirling and Clackmannanshire areas. (L)

On the Verge community group

Work continues with community groups to either sow new areas of native wildflowers, or better manage existing grassland, to encourage wildflowers by using cut and collect method, and yellow rattle. Members of the group also collect wildflower seed locally to sow into new areas. These spaces are typically in school grounds, parkland, or pockets of abandoned land. The group is also involved in the Beds for Bees project.

Increasing promotion of road verge guidelines on management and creation of pollinator-friendly road verges. (L)

Plantlife

Managing Grassland Road Verges publication was well-received nationally and further enhances the argument that roadside verges managed for wildlife are a biodiversity boost.

West Lothian B-Lines. An HLF project which completed in May 2021 (S)

West Lothian Council

Buglife

Project Complete

18 wildflower meadows created across West Lothian as part of Buglife’s UK B-Lines initiative; 70% average increase in wildflower species and a 50% average increase in pollinator species were observed per meadow in the first year.

Project engaged over 578 people in invertebrate ID workshops and habitat creation events; meadow factsheet distributed to 52 staff; design and placement of 6 new permanent site interpretation boards in parks.

Buglife led 8 plant and insect ID workshops in the meadows and adjacent freshwater habitats, to help us assess the quality of these habitats and to inspire local people to get involved and record their observations.

Stirling Council Pollinator Plan (L)

Stirling Council

The Council is committed to reducing the area of intensively managed grass and following a reduced management regime. A public consultation on a local Pollinator Strategy for Stirling has taken place. The council has a target of managing 50% of our open space for biodiversity

Aberdeenshire Pollination Action Plan (L)

Aberdeenshire Council

Aberdeenshire Council launched its third Pollinator Action Plan. This and previous plans recognise the need for urgent action to protect and enhance pollinator populations. This Action Plan is a cross-service document that identifies key areas of Council work up to March 2027 in alignment with The Pollinator Strategy for Scotland.

Meadow creation at a new development site - Thurso South substation, managed by Scottish and Southern Energy Networks (SSEN). (L)

Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Consultants WSP

SSEN

Following the sowing of a tailored pollinator wildflower seed mix on 10ha around substation site near Thurso, in 2020 a great yellow bumblebee was recorded for the first time on the site. Further sightings were recorded in 2021 by BBCT staff. Follow-up management in 2022 successfully knocked back areas of coarse grass that had started to encroach. Further monitoring surveys are planned for 2024 and 2027 and SSEN plan to take forward a case study on the site.

Central Scotland Buglife B-Lines partnership. (L)

Buglife

South Lanarkshire Council

Continue to maintain, monitor and enhance the 11 Buglife Central B-line project areas in and around Lanark. In 2022 surveyed the sites, added further wildflower seed and installed signage.

Continued to worked in partnership with Butterfly Conservation – 2022 was the final year of the three-year ‘Helping Hands for Butterflies Project’. This project created three urban meadows in Blantyre and Hamilton. Will continue to manage, monitor these sites, working with volunteers and local friends groups.

Wild Line and Daisy Chain Projects (S)

Edinburgh University

RBGE

City of Edinburgh Council

A consortium led by the RBGE was awarded a grant from the Biodiversity Challenge Fund to undertake several interventions along the south coast of the Firth of Forth in Edinburgh between Cramond and Gypsy Brae.

Included is planting of 8 individual x 500m² wildflower meadows in a linear array along the shore, using a native wildflower seed to deliver high nectar and pollen benefit to a range of pollinating insects.

In November 2021 the meadows were enriched with plug plants of selected species and sown with yellow rattle. The City of Edinburgh Council has committed to maintaining the meadows for at least 10 years.

NC500 B-Lines report (S)

Buglife

A report taking account of insects and plantlife along the course of this popular tourism route in the North of Scotland has completed.

This analysis sought to identify areas which would most benefit from improved management and actions to increase habitat for pollinators. Completed.

Pollinator-friendly practices (L)

Inverclyde Council

Inverclyde Council projects at the former Hector McNeil baths site and Craigend Resource Centre are still in progress, they should complete by end of March 2023

Bluebell seed bank creation (S)

Woodland Trust

Woodland Trust’s volunteer working group at Kinclaven Bluebell Wood collected bluebell seeds under licence in August 2021 for propagation. This ensuring their seeds form part of a bluebell seed bank. A significant number of native trees were planted on Woodland Trust’s own sites and via outreach work in 2022

Series of Wildflower areas created with pollinator provision (M)

North Lanarkshire Council

Areas planted in Strathclyde Country Park, Drumpellier Country Park, and Palacerigg Country Park. Signage explains the biodiversity benefits.

Wildflower meadow creation and management. (M)

South Lanarkshire Council

Award from the Nature Restoration Fund allowed SLC to create many wildflower meadows within newly designated LNRs. Continued to maintain and further enhance sites at Fernbrae Meadows, Greenhall & Milheugh (Blantyre), whilst creating new meadows at Mossneuk and Langlands Moss in East Kilbride. In 2020, 20ha of planted conifer trees were removed from Langlands Moss LNR – whilst the majority of this land was allowed to regenerate naturally to wet woodland, SLC also created habitats supporting wildflower meadow and wet/marshy grassland. Wildflower seed and plug plants for many butterfly species added at various sites, with help from Butterfly Conservation (Bog squad) and local volunteers, for common blue, large heath and small pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies.

NRF (22/23) intended to create and enhance more areas within our LNR’s for pollinators.

Pollinator-friendly planting and sympathetic regime of grass cutting across substantial areas of council grounds. (S)

East Dunbartonshire Council

In addition to previous years’ work, ongoing perennial meadow management of cut-and-bale sites was carried out. In 2022 the council also created new pictorial meadows on roundabouts and some amenity areas. Nature Restoration Fund money helped with scarifying and yellow rattle seeding of Balmore roadside verges.

Encouraging Scottish growers to complete an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan and encouraging local authorities to apply the principles of IPM to ground maintenance and management. Supporting and promoting IPM, and targeted use of pesticides, in agricultural and urban areas. Supporting and complying with approved advice supplied for the GB governance structure. (M)

SG

SQC

The refreshed agricultural IPM assessment plan for use by Scottish businesses improves on the previous version by allowing the industry’s progress in adopting IPM to be measured. The plan uses a metric for measuring IPM adoption, derived with stakeholder input that assigns weightings to the different pest management options and scores farms on a 0-100 scale for IPM adoption. Reviewing plans across multiple years will allow the increasing uptake of IPM by the sector to be demonstrated to the industry’s customers and to Government and its agencies. The IPM Plan is hosted on the Plant Health Centre website.

The Scottish Government continues to support the restriction on three neonicotinoids (Clothianidin, Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam) in response to the evidence of their effect on the environment, particularly on bees. These restrictions go beyond the partial ban that has been in place since 2013 and, from December 2018 use is limited to permanent greenhouses where exposure to bees and other pollinators is not expected.

Scottish Quality Crops (SQC) have introduced a requirement for growers to complete an IPM plan to meet the SQC assurance scheme standards.

In 2020 the Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment launched the new Amenity Standard, developed by the Amenity Forum in partnership with stakeholders. The Amenity Standard is a quality management standard designed to provide reassurance that those involved in maintaining amenity areas operate at the highest professional standards and that such operations are undertaken safely by trained personnel. The Scottish Government continues to support the Amenity Forum in publicising and increasing the uptake of the Amenity Standard.

Butterfly Conservation identification classes provide entry-level knowledge of plant–pollinator interactions and contribute to monitoring goals. Meadow creation work benefits a range of pollinators. (S)

Butterfly Conservation

Over 240 people received training in butterfly identification and recording between March and July 2022. This was through a mix of online workshops early in the year and in-person workshops from May onwards.

35 new volunteers took on butterfly monitoring transects this year, contributing thousands of records through regular monitoring to help us improve the statistics for how butterfly populations are faring in Scotland.

The Helping Hands for Butterflies project concluded in September 2022. Pollinator and plant diversity had increased dramatically at all of the nine urban meadows created through the project – breeding butterflies were found at 8 of the 9 meadows. The full project report can be found on the Butterfly Conservation Scotland page.

Gather and analyse data to better understand pollinator population trends, habitat availability and connectivity to ensure that the correct actions are being taken for pollinators and habitats (M)

BBCT

With research partners the Earlham Institute, the BBCT collected samples of genetic material from great yellow bumblebees (using non-lethal methods) across a number of sites in Sutherland, Caithness and Orkney. The aim is to monitor genetic relatedness in the northern populations of GYB and whether inbreeding could be a factor in population decline.

Identifying optimum plants and habitat area size for wild pollinators in different management situations. (M)

SRUC

Research projects exploring optimum farm management and landscape-scale measures to protect and promote pollinators.

Pollinator-friendly management actions are being evaluated at AHDB Prestonhall Monitor Farm and Soil Association Pollinator Demonstration Farm. This work has helped shape NatureScot’s field margin scorecard and is being written up for publication. Monitoring will continue at Prestonhall Farm via a PhD studentship.

A PhD studentship exploring the impact of varietal differences of oilseed rape on insect pollination is now successfully completed. Findings have been published open access in Agronomy and Basic and Applied Ecology.

SRUC contributed to a collaborative project to develop practical methods for assessing insect pollination services provided by a site of conservation interest. This research, led by the University of Leeds is now published (December 2021) and included in the Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA).

SRUC participated in an expert elicitation process led by Leiden University. This process aimed to create quantitative values enabling pollinators to be included in Life Cycle Assessments. The work was undertaken under RESAS-funded project Modelling the current and future GHG emissions and wider impacts in the Scottish beef, sheep and dairy sectors (SRUC-C5-1) and has been submitted for publication.

SRUC are monitoring the foraging value of different upland habitats under RESAS-funded project Seeking multiple benefits from natural carbon stores in the uplands (SRUC-D4-1). SRUC has worked with NatureScot in this project to test upland scorecards developed under Piloting an Outcome Based Approach in Scotland (POBAS).

SRUC University of Edinburgh

NERC DTP-funded PhD studentship Using remote sensing to monitor floral habitats for pollinators is now in its third year. This studentship explores the potential for imaging to help detect the quality of field margins (i.e. via UAV footage) and species-rich grasslands (i.e. via static photography).

SRUC

University of Edinburgh

JHI

NERC DTP-funded PhD studentship Assessing Scotland’s Pollinator Strategy: Taking a ‘Real-World’ approach is now in its second year. The studentship is exploring the impact of Agri-environmental interventions on pollinators, and testing the applicability of NatureScot’s field margin and hedgerow scorecards developed under POBAS.

Evaluating methods of management that benefit pollination in field margins and diverse habitat areas at farming and landscape-scale sites. (L)

JHI

Analysis to confirm links between pest control and nearby pollinator-friendly habitats, including reference to an EU-Frameworks project looking at farmer clusters for more effective biodiversity-friendly management.

FAS Scotland and SRUC are committed to promoting IPM plans and delivering knowledge exchange activities on IPM and beneficial insects to key stakeholders. (L)

SFAS

SRUC

AHDB

Information video on IPM is available online via the Farm Advisory Service’s Crop and Soils and Environmental Portals.

New FAS publications focusing on Making Pesticide Use Sustainable are in development.

New content developed for FAS environmental portal highlighting the value different habitats play in promoting beneficial insects, with signposting to other resources (January 2022).

PollMap

NatureScot

NatureScot has been developing a spatial mapping resource to better understand the habitat resources available to pollinators on a landscape scale. This should be published in Spring 2023 on the NatureScot website, as a web mapping application available via a dashboard format. Some of the mapped resource will be relatively detailed incorporating mapped data from B-Lines and similar. Some will be at a fairly coarse level until any more detailed data becomes available. The mapping will help with understanding what habitats are where, and their level of suitability as a resource for pollinators. It will also help identify areas where positive changes could be made to enhance the resource for pollinators. A story map version will also be provided which will explain more about pollinators and what they need in terms of habitat for their whole life cycles (including signposting to relevant resources), explain the rationale behind the mapping and caveats relating to data resolution.

Supporting and sustaining a healthy honey bee population and beekeeping industry in Scotland through continuing to implement the measures set in the Honey Bee Health Strategy for Scotland (HBHS). (S)

SG

SASA

SRUC

Bee Farmers’ Association

SBA

SG in collaboration with the Bee health Improvement Partnership (BHIP) published the new Scottish Honey Bee Health Strategy 2022-2032 in June 2022. The main aim of the strategy is “Working in partnership to achieve a healthy and sustainable population of honey bees in Scotland” and the BHIP meet regularly to agree priorities and monitor progress. The Implementation Plan is a working document detailing the actions required to deliver the aims of this strategy and updates are regularly published.

Publishing an informative position statement on the interplay between wild bumblebees and managed honey bees. (M)

BBCT

Bumblebee Conservation Trust have published a position statement on the interactions between managed honey bee colonies and wild bumblebees with recommendations for minimising conflict.

Imported bees

Identifying actions required to minimise the risks of managed bees (imported and locally produced) to native pollinator species.

Reviewing the pathways by which commercially-produced pollinators enter Scotland to determine the scale and biosecurity risks.

Develop a suite of tests and a standardised process to assess bumblebee health; ensure best practice guidance is available for pollinator box users.

Scottish Bee Inspectorate

• The Scottish Bee Inspectorate has strong certification procedures to ensure disease and pest freedom of imported bees into Scotland. Furthermore, these certification procedures are bolstered with a risk-based approach to post-import checks.
• Following Brexit GB has a third country trading relationship with the EU. Domestic legislation avoids the import of colonies and packages of honey bees directly into GB with the exemption of New Zealand. The only imports of honey bees allowed, other than from New Zealand, are queen bees with up to 20 attendants. Post-import checks on these imported queens have also been strengthened as a result of the third country status.
• HBHS supports beekeeper education and local breeding to reduce requirement for imported honey bees and potential impact of disease. The HBHS and SG Bee Health team contribute towards reducing honey bee losses through improved disease control, thus reducing the requirements for imports, and generally raising the health status of managed (honey) bees and their wild neighbours.

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh highlights the presence and role of pollinators, helps provide suitable habitat, and supports monitoring of pollinator communities across Scotland and Europe. (S)

RBGE

The annual pictorial meadow, native wildflower meadow (containing c. 40 wildflower species), and large areas of living lawn encourage visitors to think about different forms of meadow landscapes and encourage them to create similar habitats in their own communities, whilst providing valuable nectar sources during the season. In winter 2022 a new bed of wild-collected pollinator-friendly prairie plants was sown, to investigate whether these species are now suited to Scotland’s increasingly warm summers whilst contributing to ex situ conservation of threatened prairie species. RBGE is also a partner in the Edinburgh Living Landscapes programme, which includes creating, maintaining and monitoring pollinator-friendly habitats across the city, such as green roofs, meadows, and ‘square metres for butterflies’.

Volunteer phenology-recording project documents annual changes in flowering time across the RBGE estate, highlighting pollinator-impacting shifts due to climate change. Starting in 2022, RBGE is co-leading a large European Horizon-2020 programme – Biodiversity Genomics Europe – which will include pan-European DNA-barcoding of bees, butterflies, moths and hoverflies at 450 sites, including high mountain habitats in Scotland, to create a barcode reference library supporting ongoing monitoring efforts and rapid eDNA assessment of pollinator community health.

Downloadable guides on the Garden for Life Forum offering tips and encouragement for wildlife-friendly gardening (S).

Keep Scotland Beautiful /
Garden for Life Forum

Includes section ‘Bedding plants for pollinators‘

Providing regular updates, news and features on pollinator-related activity through the Scotland’s Pollinator blog and the associated Twitter feed (S)

NatureScot

Publishing blogs, social media posts, children’s resources, and website updates. Sharing and cross-promoting these materials. Investigating options to ‘place’ pollinator stories in the press. We have 1,788 Twitter followers. (1,450 and 950 respectively in the previous two years). Our blogs increased from 4,500 views in 2019 to 8,700 views in 2020 and 15,358 views in 2022.

Native wildflower seeds for gardens and communities

NatureScot

We have provided seed packets of native wildflower seeds, both small packets for gardens or planters and larger packets for schools and community groups.

Continuing to develop guidance, tailored to a range of audiences (farmers, councils, schools, gardeners), on practical action to help pollinators. This increases awareness of the value of assisting and recording pollinator species. (S)

BBCT

Buglife

Butterfly Conservation

A wide range of guidance published on these organisations’ websites. For example, BBCT and RSPB have jointly published a factsheet on managing golf courses for bumblebees. This can be downloaded, and hard copies are available on request.

Working with partners, including policymakers and those with practical skills in the management of habitats, to raise public awareness and understanding of the needs and status of pollinator populations. Video guidance and information for farmers. (S)

SFAS

SRUC

Soil Association

Three SFAS practical guides available online via the Farm Advisory Service’s Environmental Portal:

• Why and How to IncreasePollinators on Your Farm
• Pollinator Types and Food Sources on Small Units
• 10 Steps To Helping Pollinators On Small Units

Podcast highlighting the role that Moths play in our ecosystem in conjunction with Butterfly Conservation.

Targeted information for Land Management for the Great Yellow Bumblebee is now available through the FAS environmental portal.

SRUC and SFAS teamed up to provide four on-farm events targeted to enhancing the environmental sustainability of grassland farms. Written outputs included a practical guide on Encouraging Pollinators without costing production .

An online toolkit has been developed to help farmers select site-specific mixtures for establishment of multi-species swards.

SFAS is working with The Net Zero Arran group, originally focused on climate change benchmarking, has begun work to also enhance the island for nature conservation, supported by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. This farmer-led focus group are implementing land management practices targeted to pollinators.

Agri-Environment Climate Scheme, under the SRDP. (L)

NatureScot

Agri-environment funding for pollinators is being accessed via this scheme. 80% of crops grown in Scotland rely on insect pollination.

Acting as a partner in delivering the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS), there are currently over 2,900 contracts in place for agri-environment measures under the Scheme, with a total value of £225 million. Included are many actions, particularly for the arable and organic sectors, specifically targeted to pollinator needs as well as for the management of semi-natural grasslands.

The scheme has been running annual application rounds since 2015, with more restricted rounds in the last two years. Another round of the scheme is expected for 2024.

Green Connectors Project

Glasgow City Council

Green Connectors 5-year project creating integrated habitat linkages throughout the city for pollinators and other wildlife by wildflower, hedge and tree planting in appropriate sites.

Phase 1 was funded by the NatureScot Biodiversity Challenge Fund and Glasgow CC now has a commitment of £1.5 million from GCC budget over 5 years to implement this across the rest of the city which demonstrates the Council’s commitment to support pollinators. 13 meadow sites across city managed.

The project is a collaboration between Glasgow City Council, Parks Development Team and RSPB Scotland

NatureScot is working with Scottish Government to develop revised policy for the CAP/Brexit transition period 2021 – 2024. (M)

NatureScot

Focus on maintaining stability of current farming support scheme architecture, simplifying it where possible, whilst amending it to help address the climate change emergency (see 2019 IPCC report) and biodiversity loss (see 2019 IPBES report).

Future, post-2024, rural policy and how a more transformational change in land use can deliver on the above policy drivers as well as build a resilient and diverse rural economy are central elements.

A proposed Agriculture Bill is expected to go through the Scottish Parliament to provide the powers for developing future support systems including nature restoration.

NatureScot has been trialling different approaches, such as Piloting an outcome-based approach to agriculture support in Scotland (POBAS) which included testing biodiversity outcomes on a range of farm types (intensive arable included), and developing Biodiversity audit.

Illustrating what public good looks like on Scottish Farms (pollinators are listed as a public good) to demonstrate the public benefits generated by farm support schemes and nature-friendly practices. (L)

NatureScot

• Monitoring the outcomes generated by the current SRDP/AECS scheme on Scottish farms. Two reports have been published (a case study evaluation and heat map report) showing the value for pollinators
• Working with others to develop and promote more sustainable practices (such as the SEAMs project exploring the use of mixed crops).
• Gathering evidence from across Europe on ways in which land managers are encouraged to deliver environmental outcomes on farmland to inform future rural policy. For example participating in projects such as the Interreg-funded PARTRIDGE more info: https://northsearegion.eu/partridge

Ongoing awareness- raising of the invasive non-native Asian hornet through the Asian hornet contingency plan and associated guidance on BeeBase. (M)

SG

SASA

SBA

Continued raising awareness through public engagement activities and sentinel beekeepers. Asian Hornet Week activities through public media and monitoring by beekeepers at apiaries. Updates are regularly forwarded to relevant audiences.

Montrose Space for Nature project. Changing grass-cutting regime and herbicide application on open sites in Montrose. (M)

Angus Council

2km stretch of cycle path reduced from 16 to 1 or 2 cuts per year and yellow rattle seeding has taken place, reducing competition from dominant grasses, to allow wildflowers to thrive. Two other sites in Montrose were managed for pollinators in 2021 and the project is now in its 3^rd year. A wider range of invertebrate species is seen each year.

This approach was extended to Arbroath and was rolled out in more Angus burghs in 2022. Pond habitats in urban areas are a new focus and wetland plants and pond-edge grassland areas are being enhanced.

Strathmore ‘Pollinators & People’ B-Lines Project

Buglife Scotland

Angus Council

Perth & Kinross Council

Tayside Biodiversity Partnership

River South Esk Catchment Partnership

Developing a multifaceted B-lines project from Montrose to Dunkeld. Habitat creation, community engagement and overall improved connectivity are central to the project which runs the length of Strathmore. Community engagement has begun as have changes to grass-cutting regimes, and supplementary seed and bulb enhancement.

Angus Council purchased cut and lift machinery with its 2021/22 Nature Restoration Fund allocation, for use across Angus settlements.

Increasing ID skills for Open Mosaic Habitats (OMH) invertebrates and solitary bees, increasing conservation knowledge and species records within the Inner Forth area (S)

Buglife,

Inner Forth Futures

Inner Forth Landscape Initiative Legacy Funds provided to Buglife Scotland for August 2022 project that had the with aim of increasing ID skills for Open Mosaic Habitats (OMH) invertebrates and solitary bees, increasing conservation knowledge and species records within the Inner Forth area.

Outputs:

• 4 bespoke solitary bee ID and Open Mosaic Habitats (OMH) invertebrate courses delivered by specialist bee entomologist. (Fallin Bing and Stirling University, Stirling; The Shore and Cambus Pools Nature Reserve, Clackmannanshire; Bridgeness, Bo’ness Meadow and Crawford Lane B, Falkirk)
• 9 solitary bees and 6 bumblebee species recorded across sites.
• 157 new biological records generated.
• Purchase of 1x Trimble data collector plus field work kit to support recording in the field.
• 1 discussion article published online Buglife-Inner-Forth-OMH-Article-FINAL.pdf

Beneficiaries of the courses came from Buglife, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Falkirk Council and a volunteer with a specialist interest in Open Mosaic Habitats (OMH).

Completing regular LBAP monitoring reports and obligatory Biodiversity Duty reports. These increasingly highlight specific pollinator-friendly actions. (L)

Local authorities

These regular and detailed reports will be of considerable help in building a clearer picture of the state of our pollinators. Attendance by the Pollinator Strategy Manager at LBAP meetings enhances connections and sharing of good practice.

BeeWalk is a standardised citizen science monitoring scheme that collects bumblebee data from across the UK to gain an accurate understanding of current bumblebee populations and distributions. (L)

BBCT

The 2021 BeeWalk Annual Report covers bumblebee monitoring and the 2021 report covers the years 2008 to 2021. This is the most comprehensive data on bumblebee abundance throughout the UK. Updates are available on the BBCT website.

Using objectives outlined in Scotland’s Pollinator Strategy Implementation Plan to monitor achievements and direct future efforts. (L)

NatureScot

The Implementation Plan was amended in 2021 to reflect progress and areas identified as needing further work. This Annual Progress Report ensures current information and projects are highlighted to help to inform future actions.

Pollinator Demonstration Farm Lochend of Barra in Aberdeenshire provides a platform to explore and demonstrate means of enhancing pollinator provision in intensive arable farming systems. (L)

Soil Association

SRUC

Work now completed. Three-year demonstration project assessed plant mix and habitat size implications for pollinators.

Key findings were presented at a stakeholder meeting entitled RESAS Sustainability Webinar Series: Integrated pest management and pollinators (February 2021).

Large-scale farm experiment testing methods for sustainable intensification of arable and grassland farming. (L)

UKCEH

The ASSIST programme https://assist.ceh.ac.uk ran until 2022 with experimental sites across England testing impacts of a) flower margins and in-field strips on pollinators, pollination and natural pest control in arable crops and; b) sustainable grazing and pasture enhancement on grassland farms. The results will be shared across the UK. ASSIST is also producing novel tools for farm and landscape-planning.

Supporting the National Pollinator Monitoring Scheme in Scotland. (L)

UKCEH

NatureScot

SG

JNCC

Support of PoMS work through promotion and co-funding of the FIT Count, and 1km square surveys, data analysis and reporting. PoMS now resourced under a new MoA between JNCC and UKCEH until 2025.

Developing a Scottish monitoring programme through BioBlitz surveys. (L)

JHI

Using the JHI estate and surrounding farms to assess pollinator species and their numbers. Pan trapping used to sample pollinators from Balruddery Farm continued as part of a PhD project to assess pollinator diversity in relation to habitat availability.

Species on the Edge

BBCT

Buglife Scotland

NatureScot

The Bees on the Edge element of this project is part of the national partnership project, Species on the Edge. BotE aims to conserve rare and declining bees in Shetland, Orkney, the far north coast and the Hebrides. The project runs from January 2023 – December 2026.