Rising a 150,000-hectare freeway for UK’s insect ‘commuters’

Editor’s note: This story was identified by Patricia Zurita, who is the guest editor for Call to Earth’s Nature’s Highways theme.

CNN
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Imagine traveling long distances through a barren wilderness with no access to food or water. This is the challenging reality faced by many flying insects in the UK.

The country’s insect populations are declining drastically. The results of a recent survey by conservation group Buglife and the Kent Wildlife Trust found that the number of flying insects in the UK has fallen by almost 60% over the past 17 years. About 20 species of bees and wasps have gone extinct in the last 100 years and half of Britain’s butterfly species are now threatened, according to charity Butterfly Conservation.

Up to 10% of all insect species worldwide are threatened with extinction. The devastation is linked to several factors, including climate change and pesticide use, while vast areas of important habitats have been lost to intensive farming and other developments, says Jamie Robins, program manager at Buglife.

Since the 1930s, Britain has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows. This affects not only pollinating insects, but also animals that feed on insects, such as birds, hedgehogs and bats.

“Although our landscape looks green and beautiful and vibrant, if there aren’t many flowers, it’s a pretty hostile environment for our insects to roam easily,” says Kate Jones, a conservation officer at Buglife.

A wildflower corridor across the UK could help save bees and butterflies

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– Source: CNN

Buglife has identified 150,000 hectares (580 square miles) of land across the UK that it wants to convert back into wildflower meadows. The hope is that these meadows can be linked to form a nationwide insect “commuter” network, known as B-lines, that will provide pollinators with nectar-rich pit stops.

These floral “stepping stones” should be spaced no more than 300 meters apart, “based on the average commute distance of a single bee, to ensure they can move from place to place,” explains Robins.

The B Lines project, funded in part by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, began in 2011. Using software developed by the University of Washington, Buglife has the best connections between existing wildflower sites in is mapping across the UK and producing the first nationwide B Lines map launched in March 2021.

To date, B-lines has restored just over 2,500 acres of wildflower-rich grasslands across the network. But it’s only a small percentage of the targeted 150,000 hectares and restoring wildflowers can be difficult. Claire Carvell, senior ecologist at the UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology, says native wildflowers tend to be difficult to establish in areas of rich and fertile farmland, and pollinators often need a diverse range of flowers at any time of the year.

Another major challenge is that the network meanders through public and private land in both urban and rural areas – so the project has enlisted the help of wildlife groups, local authorities, and farmers and landowners.

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Buglife provides farmers and landowners with guidance on growing wildflower-rich meadows alongside a 10-year maintenance plan. “They are the ones who can really make a difference. They can give up small areas of their land for wildflowers and restore the habitat that they have,” says Robins.

Separately, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is offering landowners and farmers incentives to restore habitats by funding wildflower planting and management under the recent Environmental Land Management Scheme.

Carvell believes the B-Line initiative provides farmers and communities with effective support and training for the recovery process and is an important complement to government-led incentives.

She adds that planting wildflower-rich hedges and meadows not only helps insects but also farmers. “We have a lot of evidence that farmers benefit from cultivating their land in a way that is beneficial to bees, flies and also any predatory insects or the insects that provide almost a natural pest control service to their crops,” she says.

Research published by the UK’s Royal Society suggests that creating wildflower habitats on former farmland would have no adverse impact on crop yields over a five-year period and could even increase them. With nearly 75% of the world’s harvests dependent on pollination, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, conserving pollinators through wildflower-rich meadows is essential for food security.

The public can even get involved by adding their own wildflower habitats on the B Lines map via Buglife’s website. Whether it’s in a flower garden or a wildflower pot by the window, pollinators and insects will enjoy it, says Jones.

“We all have a role to play,” she adds. “Being able to contribute is wonderful.”