Much of our surviving wildflower-rich habitat now exists as small fragments across the countryside, making it difficult for pollinating insects to get all the food they need from wildflower meadows.  By growing pollinator-friendly flowers we can help pollinators by providing feeding, nesting and hibernating areas that have been lost by the reduction in natural wildflower-rich habitats. You don't even need a big garden to help - if you have paving, decking or limited space you can plant containers, hanging baskets or window boxes with pollinator-friendly plants. There are a great range of herbs and wildflowers to choose from and planting a diversity of species will ensure that there are flowers from March to end of September - just what our pollinators need. Even a single lavender plant in a pot is very beneficial as it has a really long flowering season, is very easy to keep and is a firm bumblebee favourite!

Reducing the distance between flowering sources is crucial as flying takes up a lot of energy - a third of a bumblebee's daily energy intake is spent foraging for nectar and pollen. This is especially important for smaller bumblebees like the early bumblebee, which only flies approximately 250-650 m away from it's nest to feed (average foraging trip = 20 mins). Compare this to some of the larger bumblebees such as the buff-tailed bumblebee or the red-tailed bumblebee that can fly 1.5 - 2 kilometres away from their nests to feed (average foraging trip over 50 mins)! So providing pollinator-friendly flowering plants is crucial to feed our pollinators on their journeys between patches of wildflowers.  Individuals actions like planting window boxes and containers can make a big difference to help conserve our pollinator populations.

And if possible avoid paving over large areas – no flowers means no pollinators!

Learn More:

http://www.lbka.org.uk/balconies.html