Saving the small things that run the planetScotland has a rich diversity of habitats including grassland, ancient Caledonian woodland, flower-rich machair and peat bog, that are home to a range of wildlife and are particularly important for our wild insect pollinators.
Buglife Scotland won the Innovation Award for the collaborative mapping of Scotland’s B-Lines at the Nature of Scotland Awards 2021.
Scotland is home to a diversity of insect pollinators, including several that are only found in Scotland- including the Great Yellow Bumblebee (Bombus distinguendus) that used to be found across the UK but has declined by 80% in the last century and the Pine Hoverfly (Blera fallax) which is restricted to a small patch of Caledonian pine forest in the Cairngorms. The Northern Colletes Mining Bee (Colletes floralis) stronghold in the UK is the Western Isles of Scotland. Both this species of mining bee and the Great Yellow Bumblebee are supported by flower-rich machair grasslands.
Scotland is a stronghold for Large Heath Butterfly (Coenonympha tullia) which frequents wet grassland and peat bogs and the Mountain Ringlet (Erebia epiphron) which is restricted to mountain in the English Lake District and Scottish uplands. The beautiful Transparent Burnet Moth (Zygaena purpuralis) is found primarily on the western isles and along the west coast of Scotland.
In Scotland, grassland habitats are widespread and diverse, covering about one third of the landscape. A vast majority of Scotland’s grasslands have been created by human activity through farming and are now managed for specific purposes. Due to this, many are now intensively managed or ‘improved’ to enhance productivity, and as a consequence, tend to be very species-poor.
The first B-Line to be mapped in Scotland’s was the John Muir Pollinator Way– a 134 mile walking and cycling route that goes from Helensburgh in the west to Dunbar in the east of Scotland. Since this route was first identified, B-Lines have been mapped across all of Scotland- with the help and support of our partners and funders.
Buglife Scotland have successfully delivered several habitat creation and restoration projects for insect pollinators on B-Lines across Scotland. Sites have been or are being restored across 15 local authority areas through our projects, including Glasgow’s Buzzing, Fife’s Buzzing, the John Muir Pollinator Way, Strathmore B-Lines, Pollinators Along the Tweed and Aberdeen B-Lines.
Everyone who lives, works, owns land or goes to school on a B-Line can help by creating and managing habitats for pollinators.
B-Lines were mapped across the Central Scotland Green Network area (CSGN) with funding from NatureScot and the contribution of the LIFE financial instrument of the European Community delivered as part of the EcoCo LIFE project: LIFE13 BIO/UK/000428.
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