Bees buzz as new biodiversity habitats created at Severn Trent sites

A water company operating in the Midlands is marking World Bee Day on its websites, highlighting the creation of habitats for biodiversity. Vital pollinators thrive in Severn Trent places like Draycote thanks to its meadows and flower beds.

World Bee Day celebrates everything about the pollen-loving insect. There are around 250 bee species in the UK which, along with other pollinators, help support everything from crop production to biodiversity and, indirectly, water quality.

Recent decades have seen them threatened by habitat loss caused by increasing urbanization of rural areas as well as agricultural pesticides.

READ MORE: TV crews descend on Coventry for new BBC series hailed ‘blast of fresh air’

READ MORE: Dog owners rave about affordable, training-friendly treats that are ‘big hits with fussy pets’

Bryony Harrison, Senior Biodiversity Project Manager at Severn Trent, said: “Pollinators like bees are vitally important to the ecosystem as they are essential to the life cycle of almost all flowering plants. We do a lot of work on our land, including with conservation groups like Buglife, to help them thrive. It’s a wonderful and positive part of the job.”

Severn Trent biodiversity teams also work with farmers in the region to help reduce pesticides through our Severn Trent Environmental Protection Scheme (STEPS) grants.

Herefordshire farmer Matthew Duggan has not only developed his own natural pesticide alternative but has also received Severn Trent funding for a closed transfer system (CTS) for crop spraying which helps to minimize any impact on nature.

He said: “We want to reduce our dependence on inputs and help build up the natural defenses of our crops.”

Severn Trent has helped fund flower-rich mini-meadows on the region’s farmland, which are becoming a hotspot for bees. And previously they have also introduced closely managed bee populations to sites including tanks at Draycote in Warwickshire, Tittesworth in Staffordshire and at Stanton Harold in Derbyshire.

Working in partnership with Buglife, they launched the Get the Marches Buzzing Project, which aims to restore 63 hectares of flower-rich habitat in Shropshire and North Herefordshire to provide pollen and nectar throughout the seasons.