Bluestone marks World Bee Day and is awarded Bee Friendly status
Today on World Bee Day (20th May), Pembrokeshire’s Bluestone National Park Resort is delighted to announce that it has been awarded Bee Friendly status by the Action Plan for Pollinators Taskforce. This Taskforce delivers the Welsh Government’s Action Plan for Pollinators.
Pollinators are an essential component of our environment. Bee Friendly is an initiative to make Wales pollinator-friendly. It is the first coordinated national scheme of its kind and the aim is for all organisations around Wales to get involved. The Bee Friendly scheme encourages people to take action to help all pollinators, not just bees. Wild pollinators include bumblebees, solitary bees, parasitic wasps, hoverflies, butterflies, moths, and some beetles.
Bluestone has introduced a number of initiatives across the resort, including converting their golf driving range into a flower-rich traditional hay meadow and managing their old hazel and ash coppice woodland to create glades that have bluebells, wood anemone, flag iris, and meadowsweet. In the resort’s pond designs, they have included flowering water plants and they have incorporated several new native wildflower borders within the resort landscaping. The resort is also planning on working to identify and record existing colonies of ground-nesting bees.
Bluestone already supports honey bees and produces honey at the resort’s very own on-site apiary, which was established and continues to be run in partnership with Paul Eades from the Pembrokeshire Bee Keepers Association. The honey is sold to guests at the on-site village store.
Speaking about the accreditation, Rob Mackeen, Bluestone’ Ranger who has been working on the project said: We are delighted to have received the Bee Friendly award. Sustainability and biodiversity are so important to everyone at Bluestone and we understand the vital need to support our pollinators. I’d like to say thank you so much to the students from Pembrokeshire College and everyone involved for making this possible.
Ant Rogers, Biodiversity Implementation Officer for the Pembrokeshire Nature Partnership and the County’s Bee Friendly Champion said: It’s great to see Bluestone carrying forward some of the actions in their recently published biodiversity action plan and having their work for pollinators acknowledged by the Task Force. Well done to all involved.
Bee Friendly Wales added: Congratulations to Bluestone for getting their Bee Friendly award. They have committed to providing pollinator-friendly flowers throughout the year, giving places for insect pollinators to live, avoiding chemicals that harm pollinators, and involving the community. We wish them success in their venture.
20th May 2021