The new Pollinator-friendly management of Golf Courses guide is now available. It was written to give the keepers of golf courses a science-based list of actions to follow, which clearly explain how to provide food, habitat and safety for our 99 Irish bees, whose numbers are in decline.
We were delighted to collaborate with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Ireland in developing this guideline document.
Many areas of a golf course will be suitable for implementing these simple low-cost actions to help our pollinators. The 5 key actions explained in detail in the guide to make Golf Courses pollinator-friendly are:
- Manage meadow areas for pollinators
- Plant pollinator-friendly trees and bulbs
- Make the area around the Clubhouse & Pro-shop pollinator-friendly
- Reduce use of herbicides
- Provide nesting places for wild bees
The full guide is available online to download for free here: Pollinator-friendly management of Golf Courses
We look forward to each Irish golf course signing up as a supporter of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and taking actions which can be mapped on the ‘Actions for Pollinators’ website. This allows us to slowly build a bigger picture of what is actually happening to help our biodiversity and pollinators on the golf courses around the island of Ireland. Actions for Pollinators website: https://pollinators.biodiversityireland.ie/
We extend enormous thanks to those who made this guideline possible by generously donating photographs and information for case studies.