Conservation charity Buglife is calling on everyone – from balcony gardeners to landowners – to manage green spaces for pollinators, celebrate these pollinator-friendly spaces and add their habitat to the B-Lines map.
Buglife is encouraging everyone to play their part in celebrating pollinators and helping to connect pollinator-friendly habitats across the nation. In the face of growing threats to wildlife from habitat loss, fragmentation, climate change and chemicals, Buglife is calling on people across Sussex to do their bit by creating pollinator-friendly habitats and adding these to the local B-Lines network. Every piece of land can help, no matter the size – from balcony herb garden or sprawling meadows.
“Our countryside’s beauty and health for both wildlife and people is under serious threat,” shares Buglife B-Lines Officer, Rachel Richards. “But every single person can make a difference. Whether you’re growing herbs on a balcony, managing a park or nature reserve, or stewarding species-rich meadows, your contribution matters.
“Today we are asking everyone who can, to help create pollinator friendly habitats and then add it to the B-Lines map on our website, no matter how big or small. We would like to be inspired by what you’re doing and for what you’re doing to further inspire others.”
Why it matters
Pollinators face mounting pressures from multiple sources, making connected, flower-rich habitats increasingly vital for their survival. By mapping these spaces, B-Lines aims to inspire others, demonstrate the collective impact of individual actions, and strategically identify where additional pollinator-friendly habitats are most needed.
Changing Chalk, an exciting four-year partnership project focused on protecting and enhancing chalk grasslands in the South Downs, is leading the way in showing what can be done for pollinators. The project involving ten core partners, including Buglife, is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and has improved 467 hectares of priority chalk grassland for pollinators. This includes scrub removal, creating 50 ha of chalk grass habitat to connect other sites, restoring six dew ponds and creating three urban bee banks – in particular through work with local farmers and Sussex Wildlife Trust.
“In chalk grassland habitats, management is needed to ensure an open mosaic is maintained. Of course scrub is an important habitat too and the flowers of species like Hawthorn, Blackthorn and Gorse provide pollen and nectar for pollinators; however, without management scrub is likely to take over and we may loose these precious flower-rich grasslands” explains Buglife Changing Chalk Conservation Officer, Alice Parfitt.
The Changing Chalk project team, and volunteers also carry out habitat and species surveys as well as give advice to farmers and landowners on how to improve their land for pollinating insects. There are still a lot of gaps on the B-Lines map around the South Downs and Changing Chalk project area, but anyone can do their bit for pollinators and then add their work to the map!
Alice continues, “Changing Chalk works with a number of dedicated partners who are doing fantastic work. The Living Coast Unesco Biosphere have created a new solitary bee nesting bank, Brighton and Hove Council are restoring a golf course to chalk grassland and other habitats for wildlife, and the National Trust have created wildflower-rich grassland at their site at Gayles Farm to provide resources for pollinating insects and to provide linkages through the landscape. But helping pollinators and our wildlife can encompass small actions too!”
Stuart McLeod, Director for England – London and South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Changing Chalk is a fantastic example of partners coming together to improve our natural heritage. Pollinators are a vital part of our ecosystems and this project with Buglife will encourage people to plant for nature, connecting habitats and creating wildlife corridors. It’s inspiring to see people across Sussex – whether through small patches of wildflowers or by managing larger landscapes – taking action to help species thrive and support nature’s recovery.”
Who can participate?
B-Lines brings communities together with a common purpose and goal, to improve green and wild spaces for nature. Restoring ‘insect pathways’ and creating wildflower-rich stepping stones across the nation can help bees, butterflies, beetles and other wildlife to move across the landscape. Who can get involved?
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Lizard Landscape Design and Ecology volunteering to help keep Wart-biter Bush-cricket (Decticus verrucivorus) habitat healthy ©️ Alice Parfitt Home gardeners adding pollinator-friendly plants, leaving areas to grow long and flower, or maintaining wildlife-friendly ponds;
- Community food growers working without herbicides and pesticides;
- Farmers stewarding species-rich hay meadows, restoring species-rich hedgerows or creating new flower-rich habitats to support biodiversity and Integrated Pest Management (IPM);
- Local authorities improving public green space management;
- Volunteers and conservation groups managing nature reserves.
All pollinator-friendly work, regardless of scale, can be added to the B-Lines map. Simply head to buglife.org.uk/our-work/b-lines, scroll down to the map and hit the green “Add Site” button in the top right hand corner to add your green space. The ambitious initiative aims to reach 4,000 mapped locations by the end of 2025, further adding to the visible network of spaces that support bees, hoverflies, butterflies, and other essential pollinators.
Main Image Credit: Small Scabious Mining Bee (Andrena marginata) © Liam Olds