The Irvine to Girvan Nectar Network is a Scottish Wildlife Trust-led project that aims to establish connected nectar and pollen-rich sites along the Ayrshire coast, ensuring the long-term survival of pollinating insects in the area.
Pollinators are in serious decline across the UK. With over 95% of the UK’s wildflower meadows being lost since the Second World War, places where pollinating insects can thrive are now very restricted. Nectar gives insects energy to travel across the landscape so a lack of refuelling sites prevents this.
Around 84% of Europe’s crops depend on pollinators.
Without food and shelter, not only can these pollinators not reach the crops but they are also isolated from others of their kind. Isolated insect populations are vulnerable because, if they decline for any reason, they cannot be boosted or replenished from a nearby colony.
The Nectar Network project began in 2013 when a group of Ayrshire businesses, golf clubs and their neighbours, who were already exploring sustainability together, deciding to take action to help pollinators.
Work has taken place to help pollinators at places including wildlife reserves, public greenspaces, woodlands, golf courses and industrial sites. The ongoing aim is to remove barriers to pollinator dispersal by filling in the gaps between existing sites that are rich in wildflowers.
