News
Saving bees in the Fowey Valley
Friday 17th January 2020
Image Credit: Alexander Lerch / flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Two Lostwithiel Business Group Members Trewithen Dairy and The Duchy of Cornwall Nurseries have joined The National Trust, The Lanhydrock Estate Company and The Duchy of Cornwall to support the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust and the University of Exeter in their project to safeguard declining wild bee populations in the Fowey Valley area. The project called “Pollinating the Fowey Valley’ aims to restore habitats and link isolated populations through the creation of flower-rich ‘stepping stones’ and habitat corridors throughout the Fowey Valley and beyond.
At its core is a computer program called ‘BEE-STEWARD’ which has been developed by a team of researchers at the University of Exeter’s Environment and Sustainability Institute. Researcher Dr Grace Twiston-Davies explains: “BEE-STEWARD is designed to predict how well your landscape is faring in terms of bee survival and compares the benefits of creating new habitat in different areas to help pollinators establish colonies and thrive.”
As the landowners are all neighbours the BEE- STEWARD computer program will be able to map a corridor of land which takes in most of the Fowey Valley from Bodmin Moor all the way to the Fowey Estuary. This will be the first project of its kind in the UK.
The project plans to work with a range of landowners from dairy farmers, and local industry to holiday parks, parish councils, local businesses and Lostwithiel communities.
The Bumble Bee Conservation Trust has organised a meeting at Lostwithiel Community Centre on Tuesday 28 January at 12.30pm. with presentations about the project and a chance to ask questions, meet the partners and learn how you can become involved. A sandwich lunch will be provided.
If you would like to attend then please contact Gill Perkins at Bumble Bee Conservation Trust via gill.perkins “AT”bumblebeeconservation.org
More details of the project available on The Bumble Bee Conservation Trust website at www.bumblebeeconservation.org/pollinating-the-fowey-valley/