This week, conservation charity Buglife are launching a B-Lines map for Dumfries & Galloway as part of a complete network for Scotland. B-Lines is our response to the decline of bees and other pollinating insects, a plan for how to reconnect our wild places by creating a network of wildflowers across our landscapes.
Our precious pollinators are disappearing from large parts of the countryside – there are fewer bees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths – and as well as the loss of abundance, some species are at risk of extinction in Scotland. But we can change this, by working together to restore wildflower areas in our countryside and urban areas we can aid nature’s recovery.
B-Lines provide an opportunity to create a network of wildflower-rich areas across Scotland providing essential routes for pollinators to use. The B-Lines network in Scotland 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 the general public across all of Scotland.
Buglife Scotland Manager, Natalie Stevenson, said “launching B-lines across Scotland will help us forge strong regional partnerships so together we can improve habitats and ensure that the important ecological services provided by pollinators can be sustained. People across Scotland are realising how critical invertebrates are for a nature-rich future and are beginning to change the way they manage our grasslands, but there is so much more we can do. Let us have those critical conversations now and lead the change for our future.”
Ed Tooth, RSPB Conservation Officer, said, “We are very excited about the launch of the B-lines map today. The importance of wildflower-rich habitats cannot be underestimated, and such habitats are becoming increasingly scarce in Dumfries & Galloway. Linking existing good-quality wildflower-rich habitat and boosting populations of insects will ensure the long-term survival of some important and declining bird species in Dumfries & Galloway; from woodlands for pied flycatcher and wood warbler, to urban parks and gardens for spotted flycatcher and swift. We would encourage everyone, regardless of whether you are on a B-line or not, to get involved with improving your local area for pollinators, without which much of the wildlife we know and love would not survive.
Everyone who manages land across Dumfries & Galloway can help to restore our pollinator populations. Take a look at the B-Lines map and see if your farm, garden, local park or other land you manage is on a B-Line. If you would like to get involved, please contact us at Buglife Scotland.
Mark Pollitt, manager of South West Scotland Environmental Information Centre, said, “Flower-rich habitats play a key role in supporting many of our important pollinators. I hope the new B-lines can encourage individuals, landowners, local authorities and conservation agencies to work together to create and enhance a network of flowery corridors that becomes greater than the sum of its individual parts.”
We would like to thank the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for supporting this project, and the help of all the local and national partners who have helped us to map the B-Lines network for Scotland.
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