Bees are the primary pollinators in Ireland. They feed their young exclusively on pollen so they are very busy collecting it from flowers to bring back to their nests.
In Ireland, there are 98 different types of bee: the honeybee, 20 different bumblebees and 77 different solitary bees.Other pollinators include insects like hoverflies, butterflies and moths.
Encourage insects and wildlife into your garden by:
- Reducing the number of times you mow the lawn allowing wildflowers to grow more.This helps pollinators and lessens the amount of water you need for your lawn.
- Let the dandelions grow as they are a great source of food for pollinators.
- Don’t use herbicides or insecticides on your garden or lawn
- Create nesting habitat for cavity nesting solitary bees -some solitary bees nest in hollow stems of plants.
- If you grow raspberries, leave some of the old canes unpruned each year to provide habitats for these bees
- Drill south or east facing holes in wooden fencing for solitary bees to nest in. These holes should be 10cm deep and range from 4-8mm in diameter. Add them at a height of at least 1.5-2m
- Buy or make a solitary bee hotel for your garden
- Grow bee friendly plants that are listed below
The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021-2025 outlines a range of actions and ways we can get involved in pollinator conservation.
In order to ensure the sustainability of our food production and the agricultural sector, and to protect the health of the environment, we all need to play our part.
Fruit and Vegetables
Bees and other insects help us to grow fruit and vegetables by delivering pollen from flower to flower, which help them to make seeds, that eventually grow into new plants. The bees take extra pollen back to their hive to feed their babies.
Some fruit and vegetables that need bees for pollination are:
- Apples
- Blackberries
- Blueberries
- Cherry plum
- Courgettes
- Field/runner beans
- Pumpkins
- Strawberries
- Currants
- Raspberries
| Dandelion Dead-nettle Vetch Bird’s foot trefoil Brassicas Clovers Geranium | Knapweed Oxeye daisy Self-heal Speedwell Thistle Vetch Yarrow | Autumn Hawkbit Clovers Hawksbeard Vetch Ornamental plants and herbs Comfrey Hellebores |
| Lungwort Spring/winter Heather Borage Calamint Catmint Columbine Delphinium Globe thistle Lavender Oregano | Penstemon Poppy Scabious Stachys Sneezeweed Thyme Viper’s bugloss Aster Button Snakewort Coneflower | Eupatorium Heathers Single Sunflowers(Annual) Stonecrop Hawthorn Mahonia Rowan Viburnum |
| Barberry (Berberis) Broom Crab apple Forsythia Wild cherry Willow | Firethorn Laburnum Rock Rose Viburnum Hebe | Russian Sage Cotoneaster Ivy Bramble Deutzia |
For more information see the All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021 – 2015