Written by: Ranald Strachan
2022
Supporting invertebrates is vital now that they are in very steep declines globally, which is a real cause for concern. One of the keystone functions to our ecosystem they provide is pollination, without it the world, including our courses, would not look the way they do. Responsible for pollinating food crops, fruit crops, wild plants and flowers, you name it and they provide it.
One of the most loved types of pollinators are bees, we have a diverse range of bee species on our courses: bumble, mason, mining, and soon honey bees. Here we have placed two small 'hotels' including a Queen and 60 workers at the Castle Course; the bees are White-tailed bumble bees, an excellent pollinator. We don't normally introduce species albeit we have White-tailed bumbles around our courses, however we felt the Castle course is a very young landscape with formative habitats and we wanted to try and see if we can add to the bee population in areas with good food sources and little records of bumbles. It's an experiment using British bees and hopefully will just give the bee population a nudge in the right direction. Good luck to them and we'll keep an eye on their progress.
