World Bee Day » All-Ireland Pollinator Plan

For World Bee Day 2023 (May 20th), the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan released new free resources to celebrate the importance of native meadows to our wild bees.

Native meadows are one of Ireland’s most important habitats. They support a huge number of species above ground and in the soil. In the last few decades these fragile habitats have been disappearing fast.

One third of Ireland’s wild bees are in decline because of a loss of habitats like meadows which contain the native wildflowers they need to survive. Protecting, managing, and restoring meadows are among the best ways you can help these important insects.

The Celebrating Irish Meadows flyer tells you more about what you might find in a native Irish meadow.

And the How-to guide: Creating and Restoring Meadows in Local Communities and Gardens, tells you everything you need to know about encouraging and managing these important habitats at home and in your community.

Whether you have acres of land, a local park, a garden or just a small patch of grass, you can help wild bees by creating areas of wildflower meadow.

Bringing others on board can be part of the challenge, and so we are also releasing two new signage templates which explain the importance of meadows, and what they might look like at different times of year. Huge thanks to Temple Manor Wilkins Residents’ Association, Woodstown Village Residents’ Association, and South Dublin County Council for their help in developing these signs, which you can download for free here:

Let It Bee

Meadow In Progress

For World Bee Day 2022, the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan released three short videos about ‘the Basics of Bees’, and two new blogs. You can find links to all of them below, as well as content from previous World Bee Days.

The Basics of Bees 1: An Introduction to Ireland’s Bees

This first video will give you an introduction to Ireland’s 100 wild bee species, and why they’re in trouble.

The Basics of Bees 2: Top Ten Actions for Pollinators

An overview of the top ten things you can do to help pollinators, recommended by the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan.

The Basics of Bees 3: Recording Pollinators

This video will talk about how you can help us understand more about pollinators by keeping an eye on your patch.

Blog: Providing the Evidence: an update from the Irish Pollinator Research Network

The latest news from the IPRN, an open network of pollinator researchers committed to building the evidence base for pollinator conservation and management in Ireland.

Blog: The joy of making your garden pollinator-friendly

All-Ireland Pollinator Plan co-founded Dr. Úna FitzPatrick talks about how to make your garden pollinator-friendly, and some of the types of bee that have been spotted in her urban garden.

‘Plean Bee’ – TG4 documentary, 2021

For World Bee Day 2021, we celebrated the release of Plean Bee, Dr. Úna Fitzpatrick from the National Biodiversity Centre, Professor Jane Stout from TCD, and Belfast-based biologist Dr. Pól Mac Cána explain the variety of pollinators who work on our behalf. While bees are responsible for most pollination, there are also wasps, moths, butterflies and hoverflies to take into account.

To find out more about Plean Bee, see https://dearcanmedia.com/latest-projects/

Also in 2021, the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan released a free booklet with the Irish Examiner, ‘Working together for Biodiversity – the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan’. You can access it here as a digital flipbook