Selsey Pollinator Highway Project
May 2022 - Ongoing
Yellow-legged mining bee by David Wyatt
West Sussex County County Council and the Manhood Wildlife and Heritage Group are working in partnership to link together habitats for our all important pollinators.
AIMS
To transform verges and green spaces into pollinator friendly travel routes, within Selsey and eventually right up to Chichester.
BACKGROUND
Pollinators such as bees, moths, butterflies and wasps, play a vital part in our ecosystem and support the pollination of 75% of all seed producing crops, including vegetables, fruits and biofuels.
A decline in food sources and linked habitats have put pressure on our pollinators, with more than 50% of UK bumblebee species and 71% of our butterflies suffering long-term population losses.
To reverse this decline, the Selsey Pollinator Highway project was created to restore and increase wild areas.
Privet Hawk-moth by Brian Henham
This work extends the Pollinator Highway project running in West Sussex, after the success of the pilot project in Lancing. The idea is to use the road verges to encourage wildflowers to grow, thus providing large areas of plants for them to feed on, which in turn will be pollinated by the insects.
Eventually, the Selsey Pollinator Highway aims to establish pollinator highways along all the roads on the Manhood Peninsula and up to Chichester.
METHODS
A site at the opening of Sunnymead Drive, in Selsey, raked and seeded with wildflowers.
This project, led by Dr Lesley Bromley and Joe Savill, is working in partnership with West Sussex County Council (WSCC) and MWHG volunteers to physically transform sparse local environments and to encourage the wider community to 're-wild' their own green spaces.
Locations with 'Pollinator Highway' potential are prepped and planted up or seeded with native plants, to provide good food sources and nesting spaces for insects. WSCC will ensure the verges are not mowed until after the flowers have set seed for next year.
Some verges will just be left unmown to see what will grow. The verges will look different, but wildflowers are a beautiful sight and it is understood more now than ever that green spaces that are too tidy are bad for insects and wildlife as a whole!
You can make a difference on your own patch!
Please consider leaving a small area of your garden unmown to encourage a mini wildflower meadow to grow. If you live within 300 meters of the Selsey pollinator highway and create your own wild patch, you'll be helping us to double the amount of available habitat in this highway!
RESULTS
A leaflet has been created to promote the Selsey Pollinator Highway and highlight the changes to road verges residents and visitors to Selsey can expect to see in the coming months.
Click the link below to download this leaflet.
Click the link below to download this leaflet.
Click the link below to download this leaflet.
PARTNERSHIPS & FUNDING
FUNDING
Manhood Wildlife and Heritage Group (MWHG)
Funded by your donations, distributed through MWHG.
SUPPORTERS
West Sussex County Council
Collaborating with MWHG to increase wild, natural spaces and maintain road verges with environmentally friendly methods.
