Marvellous Meadows of Tayport

PLANT Voices

Just how many pollinators can you find on one wild carrot flower? And what exactly is a pollinator? Listen to find out!

In this podcast episode, Kaska and Johanna Willi, Fife Council's Biodiversity Officier, marvel at the flowers, bugs and beasties which can be found in Tayport’s wildflower meadows established by Fife’s Buzzing project. PLANT volunteers turned out in force to do the sowing and planting in the Spring of 2016. We hear about the extraordinary benefits of this project for protection of these rapidly vanishing natural spaces locally and how it’s already helped our precious pollinator dwellers. Tips on how to make home for pollinators in your own backyard are also included.

Project team was careful to involve Tayport community in selecting the meadow sites, they held consultation 'drop-in' event with the Community Council, and also consulted park users in the Common.

Fife’s Buzzing was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Fife Environment Trust. Partners in the project included Fife Council and Buglife Scotland.

Land owners involved ac included The Woodland Trust Scotland, Fife Golf Trust, St Andrews Botanic Garden, CommScope, Dalbeath farm, Fife Council.

Resources:

• Fife’s buzzing project: https://www.buglife.org.uk/projects/fifes-buzzing/
• Buglife’s B-Lines project providing wildlife corridors for insects to connect fragmented habitats (Tayport is on a B-Line!): https://www.buglife.org.uk/our-work/b-lines/
• All things bumblebee at Bumblebee Conservation Trust website: https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/

Exploring pollinators – backyard science:

• Count pollinators visiting your flowers https://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/pollinator-monitoring. Flower-Insect-Timed Counts which involve monitoring a flowering plant in a 50x50cm square for 10-15 minutes and counting the different pollinators that visit the flowers.
• Record bee-flies for Bee Fly watch (April – June): https://www.brc.ac.uk/soldierflies-and-allies/bee-fly-watch
• Spotting bumblebees on a BeeWalk: https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/beewalk/

Ideas on how to support pollinators in your garden:

- Buglife Make a Mini Meadow: https://www.buglife.org.uk/get-involved/gardening-for-bugs/make-a-mini-meadow/

- Buglife How to make a community meadow: https://www.buglife.org.uk/how-to-make-a-community-meadow/

- RHS plants for pollinators (many ornamental plants included): https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/conservation-biodiversity/wildlife/plants-for-pollinators

- Wildlife gardening tips from Wildlife Trusts: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/gardening

- Garden for life leaflets (Scotland): https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/local-environmental-quality/community-projects/garden-for-life/resources/