We open today’s Advent Calendar window for bees and for North Northamptonshire Council’s ‘Pardon the Weeds’ campaign. They are looking to take the following actions in Wellingborough to improve conditions in their parks, open spaces and highway verges.
North Northamptonshire Council are currently working with internal and external partners to identify further areas of land for pollinator habitat improvement, notably in Wellingborough, with a phased plan for introduction. They are also focussing on Wellingborough to review use of pesticides, and will introduce new mowing regimes and ‘feed the bees’ signage in Wellingborough next spring.
The council’s country parks, woodlands and nature reserves have a long history of managing habitats to improve wildlife. Much of this is achieved through volunteer work programmes supported by the park and woodland Rangers. These parks contain some very valuable wildlife habitats and are the home to nationally scarce species, such as Black Hairstreak and Purple Emperor Butterflies at Fermyn Woods Country Park.
More recently, valuable work on improving pollinator habitats in urban areas has been trialled in the Kettering and Corby areas, including the use of ‘feed the bees’ information signage in verges and parks, to help people understand why their local landscape is changing. This work has been well received and demonstrated the potential for further improvements to our urban greenspaces.
#PardonTheWeeds is a campaign which has been running in parts of the county since 2020. Some high-speed roads and industrial estates are filled with wild-flowers and longer grass to enable bees to feed! Here is North Northamptonshire Council’s recently published plan:
1 – Increase forage resources for pollinator species
- Leave more long grass or meadow areas in less formal parts of the parks and open spaces to allow flowers to bloom and seed. Prioritising areas that connect to each other and to existing wildlife habitats and corridors. Where practical they will work to improve the floral diversity of these areas and reduce the dominance of coarser grasses
- As part of their ‘Pardon the Weeds’ campaign they will allow suitable verges to flower and become rich in early sources of pollen from March through to June.
- Plant at least 1 tree for every one they remove
- Plant and encourage a native understorey of flowering plants, such as hawthorn, blackthorn and honeysuckle, particularly in woodland and marginal areas.
2 – Improve habitats for nesting and overwintering pollinators
- Keep some areas of long grass throughout the winter as a refuge for insects – cutting on a 3-year rotation to ensure that the areas do not become rank and lose floral diversity.
- Acknowledge the importance of bare ground areas for ground-nesting species. Ensure that not all paths and desire lines are hard surfaced or re-turfed, as these are important nesting areas.
- Leave patches of nettles and other larval food plants for breeding butterflies and moths.
- Avoid planting new specimens of tree species which can be damaging to bumblebee species, such as Tilia petiolaris.
- Where practical, support projects that create bee ‘hotels’ to encourage mining and leafcutter bees to nest.
- Ensure suitable bio-security measures for new planting if plants are being imported.
3 – Reduce pesticide use
Wherever practicable, aim to reduce the use of pesticides and ensure that where any treatment application is required, that it is minimised by sensitive application techniques, such as spot spraying, using the most up to date technologies and products.
4 – Participate in pollinator projects and action
- Engage with stakeholders in areas where significant change is likely, such as through our ‘Pardon the weeds, we are feeding the bees’ signage, etc.
- Support or deliver projects aimed at increasing the diversity and abundance of pollinating insects, where practical.
- Aim to involve people in improving their environment, such as through volunteering in parks etc.
- Include learning about pollinators in their Education Ranger led Outdoor Learning activity programmes with schools and groups.