There are plans for Norfolk to become more ‘Bee Friendly’
It’s national ‘Don’t step on a Bee Day’.
Tripling the number of Roadside Nature Reserves in Norfolk is among a range of green measures set to be considered by county councillors next week. Fewer cuts for rural roadsides and 188 more roadside nature reserves are on the cards as part of plans to boost biodiversity along roads and paths across the county.
A pollinator action plan is also being looked at.
Cllr Barry Stone, Chair of the Infrastructure and Development Select Committee, said: “These plans are designed to help make our roadsides a real pollinator paradise.
We’re clear that balancing safety and nature must be central to any new policy but we have a fantastic chance here to make some real changes for the better.”
The report set for discussion next week states that the proposals will help support ambitions in the County Council’s Environmental Policy that was approved in November 2019. It says that sympathetic management of roadside verges can provide a connected habitat for insects and wildlife.
Also on the agenda are plans to help boost cycling and walking across the county, and development of a new verge management policy which will include information for parish and town councils wishing to take on responsibility for verge cutting in their local area.
Louise Chapman is the owner of Buzz Off, https://www.buzz-off.co.uk who save honey bees when they get into places they shouldn’t be, and safely rehomes them.
“Bee numbers are declining."
"One third of all plants that we eat have been pollinated by bees. They pollinate 75% on of the worlds main food crops, so without bees we would be not be eating as many things as we do”
Louise shares some tips we can all do to help save the Bees:
“Plant lots of bee friendly flowers in your garden, you can also get a little bee hotel.
Bees need to drink as well, so you can make a little drinking area and put some little stones around it for them to rest on. It could be a saucer or little dish.”
According to Greenpeace, you have a bee to thank for every one in three bites of food you eat.
Friends of the Earth said without bees it would cost UK farmers £1.8 billion a year to pollinate our crops.
Since 1900, the UK has lost 13 species of bee, and a further 35 are considered under threat of extinction. None are protected by law. Across Europe nearly 1 in 10 wild bee species face extinction.