The Legacy of the BEESPOKE Project

John Holland, Project Coordinator, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust

Above all else our hope is that this project will highlight the importance of pollinators for both wild plants and crops leading to greater adoption of management practices to support them.

Crop pollination

We hope that through provision of user-friendly protocols and demonstration of the benefits of adequate pollination that more farmers and growers will make management of pollination a key component of their production systems. New information will be provided to complement that which already exists on the importance of pollination for major crops and for some new novel crops. This will include a predictive tool that can estimate the number of pollinators for any location across the North Sea Region. This is based upon the land-use, derived from satellite data, and the resources the different habitats provide for pollinators linked with their mobility.

Wild bee conservation

Through the development of targeted bespoke seed mixes, we will provide land managers with a way to encourage the types of pollinators needed for their crops. New grassland mixes will also encourage pollinators on grazing land. The seed selection tool will allow them to further refine or develop new mixes appropriate for their particular farms. The new seed mixes will also be used by a wide range of other insects helping to boost their falling numbers. Alongside these mixes we have provided training and produced written and video guides on how best to establish and manage these and other flowering habitats found on farmland. The provision of advice and tools to manage pollinators is essential to ensure pollinators are managed as best as possible. Guidelines on how to identify and monitor the main groups of wild pollinators have also been produced, so that land managers can monitor their levels over time and to help inspire more people to take an interest in pollinators and monitor their numbers.

Policy

The implementation of measures to support pollinators relies heavily upon sufficient financial support and appropriate agri-environment scheme options. Our work collating information about the member states current agri-environment schemes, feedback from land managers about how they perceive the schemes, and results from our own findings will be used to provide recommendations to NSR member state organisations responsible for agri-environment policy. This can ensure that uptake is at a landscape scale, helping to improve pollinator populations whilst our landscape models can help identify where such habitats are most needed. However, there may still be barriers to uptake but by better understanding these through our interactions with stakeholders, surveys and analysis we aim to overcome these providing extra incentives such as information about the costs and benefits. Overall, the project will generate some broad recommendations alongside much more detailed guidance about the management of pollinators and crop pollination.

Legacy

The project will develop many new training materials to help farmers and other land managers to survey and identify their pollinators, assess their impact on crop pollination and best manage their land to support pollinators. This will include written guides, videos and online tools. We will also have generated much new information about the role of pollinators in crop production which can help inform the science base, policy makers and land managers.