Fowey Valley bumblebee project

Pollinators, including bumblebees, are declining worldwide in response to interacting factors relating to agricultural intensification such as habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and pesticides, but are essential for sustainable farming.

Farmers are however under considerable economic pressure to increase productivity, which can reduce the availability of suitable habitats for wild pollinators. Honeybees are estimated to be capable of providing only around 34% of pollination service demands, demonstrating the importance of wild pollinators such as bumblebees to make up this shortfall. When land is managed sensitively, agricultural habitats can provide floral resources, nesting habitats, and connectivity, reversing pollinator decline whilst still producing food.

In this new cutting-edge, science led & evidence based project, we are trialling the University of Exeter’s Bee-Steward model at a landscape scale across the Fowey Valley, Cornwall, covering an impressive 1,400 ha. Bee-Steward simulates the growth, survival and behaviour of bumblebees in a mapped landscape, and helps untangle complex bumblebee responses to their environment. The model predicts the best places to target land management changes to increase bumblebee populations. We will be collecting bumblebee and habitat data to refine the model and will test its capabilities, with the future aim of promoting its use amongst farmers, landowners and conservation bodies to help inform management decisions at a landscape scale.

Partners and collaborators

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust are working in partnership with the Duchy of Cornwall Estate, Duchy of Cornwall Nursery, The Lanhydrock Estate Company, the National Trust, Trewithen Dairy, and the University of Exeter.

Funding

Pollinating the Fowey Valley has received funding from the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund and Kelly’s of Cornwall.

Get involved



For more information on the project, please email rosalind.shaw@bumblebeeconservation.org