Farmland Ecology Blog

This February and March the Farmland Ecology Unit collected 1,200 soil samples as part of the healthy soil, healthy food, and healthy people (H3) project. H3 is part of a large interdisciplinary project aiming to transform UK food systems by putting the health of people and the environment at the forefront of UK food production.

Solitary bees are often overlooked in the world of bees, with bumblebees and honeybees being much more familiar to most people. In fact, 90% of the UK’s bee species are actually solitary bees, with around 250 solitary bee species, only 24 bumblebee species, and just one honeybee species.

Bees that forage enter the flower from the front, and in turn pollinate the flower when retrieving nectar. When they rob, they chew a hole at the back of the flower or use a hole made by another bee and they steal the nectar without pollinating the flower – a lot of people are unaware that bees even do this!

In the BEESPOKE Project which is coordinated by GWCT, one of our tasks is to investigate the extent to which farmers are interested in conserving pollinators and if not, then why not. To help with this we are looking for farmers to complete this short survey.

Help us better understand farmer and grower attitudes and issues regarding pollinator management by taking our short survey.

This Thursday (20 May) marks the fourth annual World Bee Day. Given that more than 75% of the world’s food crops depend on pollination, it’s remarkable that this has been so long in the making.

A new paper from the GWCT’s Head of Farmland Ecology, Professor John Holland, has been published in the journal Insects, discussing Conservation Biological Control – a component of integrated pest management that allows more sustainable farming, using insects as natural predator control to reduce the reliance on expensive and potentially damaging pesticides.