Surrey Wildlife Trust Appeals To Bring Pollinators Back from the Brink

Published on: 30 May, 2022
Updated on: 3 Jun, 2022

Surrey Wildlife Trust (SWT) has launched an ambitious appeal to help halt the decline of the county’s bees, bugs and butterflies. Money raised will be used to restore and connect pollinator habitat across Surrey.

One of the 24 bumble bees, most of which have been recorded in Surrey, that have declined steeply in the past 25 years says SWT. Photo by Jon Hawkins, Surrey Hills Photography.

It plans to use the target of £65,000 on a “variety of projects including the restoration and improvement of wildflower meadows on chalk grassland, working with partners on re-wilding road verges and greening Surrey’s towns and villages with support from local communities,” said Andrew Jamieson, SWT projects director.

So far, nearly £9,000 has been raised.

SWT says over 50% of the earth’s insects have disappeared since 1970. With 41% of remaining insect species threatened with extinction, we are on the verge of an insect apocalypse.

If the pollinators disappear then thousands of iconic species, 87% of all plants and three quarters all the food we eat disappear too.

Dingy skipper butterfly. Photo by Jon Hawkins, Surrey Hills Photography.

Habitat loss, pesticides and climate change are all contributing towards the crisis but Surrey Wildlife Trust wants to bring pollinators back from the brink.

Andrew Jamieson said: “Now is the time to act to stop the terminal decline of pollinators in Surrey. Creating biodiverse green spaces which can feed and shelter pollinators and connecting up habitat will provide corridors for a host of insect species to move through the county.”

A SWT spokesperson added that since 1900, 13 of the 270 species of bees in the UK have been lost.

There is only one honey bee species, but the UK has 24 bumble bees, most of which have been recorded in Surrey, although these have declined steeply in the past 25 years and some species are now locally extinct. There are also 224 species of solitary bees which come in many colours, shapes and sizes.

Surrey also has around 40 resident or regular migrant species of butterfly and many important longer distance pollinators – particularly of wildflowers.

Any kind of creepy-crawly might be referred to as a bug and there are around 40,000 species of invertebrate or bug in the UK. True bugs are members of the Hemiptera species, which have mouth parts modified for piercing and sucking. They include shield bugs, leafhoppers and aphids.

All of these species need our help here in Surrey. To make a donation to the Surrey Wildlife Trust Bees, Bugs and Butterflies appeal visit surreywildlifetrust.org/give

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