Making a B-Line for the North East

Working with Durham Wildlife Trust, Sunderland City Council and South Tyneside Council, the project has carried out habitat restoration on 12 Local Wildlife Sites and two Sites of Special Scientific Interest. In particular, the project has focussed on restoring wildflower-rich grassland through programmes of scrub clearance and re-instatement of cutting. In addition, green hay has been harvested from nearby wildflower-rich grasslands and used to restore and create new areas of grassland at Copt Hill and Hylton Dene.

The project has also focussed on increasing wildflowers, and the pollinators which depend on them in several local parks in South Tyneside and Sunderland. Training has been provided to local authority staff to increase understanding as to how simple changes to grassland management can help pollinators.

The project has also focussed on getting young people interested in pollinators and wildflowers. Buglife and Durham Wildlife Trust have led education activities at 14 primary schools, engaging with over 300 children. School sessions helped pupils learn about the process of pollination and why this is so valuable to both wildlife and people. Durham Wildlife Trust has also worked with 7 schools to create pollinator habitats on their school grounds and wildflower seed packets have been provided to 80 local schools.

If you live, work, go to school or manage land across the north-east of England, look at the B-Lines map and see if there are areas where you can get involved. Look at our other project pages and advice and think about whether you can carry out some work for pollinators in your local area.

You can help pollinators in your own garden, allotment, business grounds, school grounds or local community space. If you are a farmer, think about creating wildflower-rich meadows or putting in place other pollinator-friendly measures such as pollen and nectar mixes, species-rich hedgerows or field margins.