10 Year Pollinator Strategy

[madasafish]

The Government has made an agreement with landowners including Network Rail and the Highways Agency to restore bee-friendly habitat throughout England.

It is part of a 10-year National Pollinator Strategy..........


It includes countryside stewardship schemes, worth a total of £900m, to provide financial incentives for farmers to plant pollinator-friendly crops and let meadows grow


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/29847474

 

[Moggett]

Election next year and they need something 'green' to put in their electioneering blurb.

 

[REDWOOD]

A different approach would have been a better option, perhaps a more restricted use of herbicides and pesticides (insecticides) would allow the wild flowers to grow and native pollinators to flourish. Some day they will see the bigger picture, or their lights are on but their's nobody in

 

[Edwardking]

A different approach would have been a better option, perhaps a more restricted use of herbicides and pesticides (insecticides) would allow the wild flowers to grow and native pollinators to flourish. Some day they will see the bigger picture, or their lights are on but their's nobody in

Or it could be that in consultation with beekeeping organisations the Government were told there's no link between insecticides and bee losses.
We should welcome this policy and encourage them to expand it as it gets going. All things need a start, and this is one we should all get behind.

 

[REDWOOD]

Andrew Pendleton has got it right


The government is to make a contribution by installing its own beehives on the rooftop of the environment department’s headquarters in central London

£900m.........I would like to see the books on that one

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/04/bees-uk-protect-liz-truss-pollinating-lawnmower

 

[madasafish]

£900m.........I would like to see the books on that one

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/04/bees-uk-protect-liz-truss-pollinating-lawnmower

£90m a year buys very little.. About 600MPs..

 

[MikeT]

Saw interview on Breakfast TV, where Elizabeth Truss was questioned. She is advocating mowing lawns less frequently to save bees. How much does she think a bees spends on a lawn? Most lawns have few flowers which are a source of nectar unless they are overgrown with dandelions and white clover.

Election year next year wants Green Points!!

 

[user 6228]

Saw interview on Breakfast TV, where Elizabeth Truss was questioned. She is advocating mowing lawns less frequently to save bees. How much does she think a bees spends on a lawn? Most lawns have few flowers which are a source of nectar unless they are overgrown with dandelions and white clover.

Election year next year wants Green Points!!

Changing Highways & councils policies on verge and hedge cutting is a bigger deal.

 

[midnight sun]

At the same time they seem to be trying to sell some area's off to developers again.

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/infrastructure

Give with one hand and take with the other. No change there then!

 

[itma]

The government’s strategy for protecting pollinating insects, including bees, fails to adequately address one of the major threats to their health say scientists, environmentalists and opposition politicians.

The national pollinator strategy (NPS), launched on Tuesday by environment secretary, Liz Truss, focuses on measures that will provide insects with “food and a home”. But scientists, environmentalists and rival politicians, while broadly welcoming of the strategy, say the government is wilfully downplaying the issue of pesticides.

Experts also raised concerns about the lack of specific targets and mandatory actions in the policy.

Shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle criticised Truss for failing to mention pesticides in a speech on Tuesday to launch the NPS.


“Liz Truss has managed to make a speech about pollinators without once mentioning pesticides which is like making a speech about climate change without mentioning carbon,” said Eagle.

Bee biologist Dave Goulson said the government’s strategy contained the same blind spot. He said the government had put in place weak, voluntary measures to limit the use of chemicals known to affect pollinators.

“The biggest driver of wildlife declines in the UK has been the push for ever more intensive farming systems, dependent on very high pesticide inputs. The NPS suggests that it will encourage farmers to adopt “Integrated Pest Management” (IPM) strategies that aim to reduce pesticide input, but it offers no practical mechanism to achieve this. Most farmers are highly unlikely to even read the NPS, let alone change their farming practices as a result,” said Goulson.

http://www.theguardian.com/environm...inator-strategy-be-enough-to-stop-bee-decline



Actual 'strategy' documents are now online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...egy-for-bees-and-other-pollinators-in-england

 

[itma]

The BBKA welcomes the publication of the long awaited National Polinator Strategy (NPS) in which it is a major stakeholder and to which it has been a major contributor.

Full thing http://www.-------------/files/pressreleases/statement_re_launch_of_nps_4_nov_2014_1415115544.pdf
Try and spot the criticism!



Censorship does seem a bit silly in this instance!

ht tp://www.b b k a.org.uk/files/pressreleases/statement_re_launch_of_nps_4_nov_2014_1415115544.pdf
Take out the spaces …

 

[user 6228]

Full thing http://www.-------------/files/pressreleases/statement_re_launch_of_nps_4_nov_2014_1415115544.pdf
Try and spot the criticism!



Censorship does seem a bit silly in this instance!

ht tp://www.b b k a.org.uk/files/pressreleases/statement_re_launch_of_nps_4_nov_2014_1415115544.pdf
Take out the spaces …

its content free... so avoiding a question that wasn't put

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Changing Highways & councils policies on verge and hedge cutting is a bigger deal.

It would be a bigger deal if it were ever to be put into effect. The Environment Minister asks the Minister of Transport to change grass cutting policies but it takes ages to change the standards and specifications of hundreds of management and maintenance contracts. In addition, the Transport Minister exhorts the local authorities to change their policies and again there are contracts to change, cutting routes to change, drivers to instruct, etc. The upshot is that things NEVER change.

Cornwall Council is so strapped for cash, it is reducing staff by 200 next year AND YET it was cutting grass verges near Looe in April last year - don't they want to save money? Last week somebody - I'm not sure if it was a local authority or local landowner - were cutting hedges with a flail mower in our village. The last of the Ivy Blossom went as did all the berries that would have provided autumn/winter food for birds.

I think the only way to take these issues forward is to pass laws, a bit like the Health and Safety legislation of the early 1990s that seemed at the time to be very draconian but eventually proved to be very effective and reduced accidents at work to levels that nobody thought was possible. For instance, "thou shalt not cut grass on highways until August unless there is an overriding safety requirement."

Just exhorting public authorities to protect birds and bees will never work.

CVB

 

[Swarm]

Last week somebody - I'm not sure if it was a local authority or local landowner - were cutting hedges with a flail mower in our village. The last of the Ivy Blossom went as did all the berries that would have provided autumn/winter food for birds.
CVB

In fairness, the hedges are left while birds are nesting but they do need cutting. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation.

 

[madasafish]

Meanwhile in a different universe, people are destroying Himalayan Balsam as an invasive species. Bees of course don't feed on it.

And homeowners are busy laying decking and concreting over front gardens to provide parking.

 

[isc26]

Great now not cutting the grass is not laziness it's part of a carefully considered wildlife stewardship scheme. Honest.

 

[Sean.]

Changing Highways & councils policies on verge and hedge cutting is a bigger deal.

This is a good idea. Save the habitat and then save paying someone to cut it down. Yes, I know the possible of putting someone out of work.

 

[Finman]

This is a good idea. Save the habitat and then save paying someone to cut it down. Yes, I know the possible of putting someone out of work.

You think that highway verges are best places for wild life? Can you find worse place?..... All those bugs colliding with cars

 

[Sean.]

In fairness, the hedges are left while birds are nesting but they do need cutting. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation.

Hedges can be cut in sections, that's what one of the farmers does where I keep my bees. He also is getting the hedges higher so that the owls don't get hit by vehicles.

He's also planed 5 acres of pollen and nectar mx in the grass, which to be fair does produce a lot of useful flowers.

 

[Madge]

Sorry - wrong link.