Pollinating the Peak

Pollinating the Peak is an ambitious natural heritage project based in Derbyshire that will raise awareness of the links between our countryside, food and bumblebees. The project is working with the orchard group.

“Working with a wide range of partners across all sectors, we will engage with people of all ages and inspire a new generation of entomologists and citizen scientists to look after and look out for bumblebees now and in the future, taking action from planting pollinator-friendly flowers in their own gardens to carrying out bumblebee surveys.

By inspiring public action the project aims to help secure the future of the Bilberry bumblebee (a Peak District National Park priority species) and other local bumblebees by improving favourable habitat and monitoring bumblebee populations.“

It is led by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Chatsworth is one of the partners. We are delighted that the project will be working with our orchard group. Our tiny meadow can be a link into their education programme, and they will help with talks in the village, a summer picnic, scything demonstrations and the like.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust has published advice leaflets, including “Managing traditional orchards… for bumblebees” which says “management should ideally mimic that of a traditional hay meadow.”