That was the aim of the ‘Operation Pollinator day’ held at Huntercombe golf club on the 15th July.
Having won the Operation Pollinator award at BTME earlier in the year, it was great to see it in pride of place in the club house, and hear the feedback from members has been very positive.
A real buzz about the place…
I don’t visit many clubs where the green keeping teams are doing nothing for biodiviersity and wildlife on the course.
Most I speak to are doing positive things and not even realising it.
To some sections of the general public golf is seen as bad for the environment, you can hear “biodiversity desert” banded around.
It’s really important that we as the golf industry celebrate all the good work that’s being done to create and maintain habitats for rare bee’s and butterflies, along with other wildlife, to balance the picture people see.
“Wildlife corridors” are really important to allow populations of insects, birds and other animals to move around, were urban areas can cut them off from wider populations, golf courses can help connect these different habitats.
Greens are what most non-golfers think of when they think ‘golf course’.
As we know maintenance levels on greens are high due the need to present a quality surface for the sport, short cut, generally monoculture with raised levels of input to mitigate the stresses.
But out of play areas are rarely thought about – but can be the areas it’s easiest to play for biodiversity.
The Golf Environment Awards, read more here, aim to celebrate the great work being done in golf to enhance the environment.
Don’t forget to apply for next year, it’s open for applications now!
Course manager Grant Stewart, the green keeping team and wider club were well deserved winners of Operation pollinator award.
On the operation pollinator day, upon arrival Grant gave a talk to the clubs in attendance on the projects they had undertaken over the years, including hints & tips and practical examples.
Cutting areas – timing and equipment used
Collecting seed and storage for next year
Logging sightings and communicating with the membership
Stella Rixon STRI ecologist and judging lead for the awards spoke to the group about what it takes to win over the judges and the importance of laying out a plan, not just for this year but moving forward.
Projects don’t need to be huge, and it can be better to undertake a project which the team has resources to keep managing in future years, rather than a huge project in year one that the team can’t keep up with next year.
Sarah Hughes from Syngenta talked about Operation Pollinator, the history of the project and how to free and easily apply to join, and commit to to managing some areas of the course for pollinators like bee’s and butterflies.
Something Operation Pollinator targets is ‘as wide a variety of nectar producing flowers for, a long period of time’ as we can muster.
This gives wild bumble, solitary bees and butterflies a reliable food option when they need it throughout the year.
Nectar supplies can be boom and bust, with lots available at one point and then without that variety, the pollinators could experience nothing to eat just a few weeks later.
Blue bells are a good example, lots of great nectar produced but only for a short period, so if no other flowers were available in the surrounding habitat bees could struggle to find their next meal.
It’s really easy to sign up and you get sent out signage, posters and bee identification cards to educate and engage the wider team and golfers.
After the talks Grant lead the group on a course walk to discuss the different ecological areas the team has worked on, the different challenges and benefits of each and ways they had found to manage them effectively.
Overall it was a great day and most people I spoke to were going back to their club with some new ideas!
We will try to hold another event next year as there was so much to cover and lots of interest from those who attended, so watch out for information on that or get in touch if you are interested.
Do sign up for Operation pollinator.
It’s also really good to apply for the Golf Environment Awards which is open for applications now! Good luck!
