I wrote yesterday to several wildlife oragnisations and dignitaries. I received a really lovely prompt response from buglife. This is part of the letter received, and it gives some great links and facts that we can all benefit from:

Dear Archie

Thank you for your letter.

Your campaign is well focussed – councils should all be taking action to increase the amount of forage available for bees and other pollinators.  As I am sure you are aware in most parts of the UK there are not enough wildflowers, so Honeybees end up competing with wild pollinators and thereby adding to the difficulties that insects are having surviving in the environment.

Here are a few more pointers to information that may help you with your campaign.

1. Current insect decline rate is 35% per decade – rapid – see our data from Bugs Matter – https://www.buglife.org.uk/get-involved/surveys/bugs-matter/ – you could encourage councils and individuals to take part in the survey (just finished for this year).
2. We have produced a guide to managing road verges for pollinators – full report on the right hand side of this page – https://www.buglife.org.uk/resources/habitat-management/managing-road-verges-for-pollinators/
3. Roundabouts and verges are a good starting place, but there is more that councils can do to help pollinators – we encourage all local authorities to create a pollinator plan – there is guidance here about how they can do that – https://cdn.buglife.org.uk/2020/10/Helping-pollinators-locally.pdf
4. Council contacts – you can find out who to write to about this on this website – https://www.writetothem.com/ – I am not sure how you would identify lists of local companies, you would of course need to first establish that their local council was accepting sponsorship for pollinator management of roundabouts and verges, and was capable of delivering pollinator friendly habitats (we often find that councils have outsourced verge management to contractors who do not have the equipment needed to bale and remove cuttings, so can only cut frequently – this is why a Pollinator Plan is good because the contracts last for years, but when they eventually re tender for the verge management work they can ask for a contractor who can manage verges for pollinators).
5. Your points about the other benefits of wild verges are important – the evidence shows that drivers are less stressed when there are wildlife rich verges, and accidents are less likely to be severe.

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I hope this is useful.  We certainly support your efforts.  Perhaps at some point we could put out a press release to draw attention to your initiative.  Please do keep Paul Hetherington in the loop.

Many thanks

Matt 

Matt Shardlow

Chief Executive