CONSERVATION & ECOLOGY


Glenn Kirby


Pioneering Pollinator


The pioneering Syngenta Operation Pollinator initiative, to promote ecological habitat creation on golf courses, has hit over 100 clubs signed- up in the UK.


Syngenta Technical Manager, Glenn Kirby, highlights that it has created a massively valuable ecological asset for bumblebees and other biodiversity, as well as adding an extremely attractive environment for players.


"Iestyn and Duncan’s work at Corhampton has demonstrated how golf courses provide ideal locations for habitat creation. With the right management, these areas could provide highly beneficial habitat for bumblebees and other pollinating insects.”


“Operation Pollinator also enhances the overall playing experience. The wildflower areas improve visual appearance and it creates valuable positive publicity for the club, and for the industry as a whole.”


Operation Pollinator is the culmination of more than 15 years research by Syngenta into the environmental management of habitats for


bumblebees, butterflies, spiders, beetles and other insects, backed by STRI trials, support of independent ecologists and research on commercial golf courses across the UK.


“We now have positive examples of every type of course getting involved, at different levels,” Glenn added. “All the clubs are incredibly willing to share their experiences and advice through the Operation Pollinator network, and gain recognition from the Operation Pollinator Award, independently judged by the STRI as part of the Environment Awards.”


128 PC June/July 2019


Corhampton chalk scrape design with humps and hollows to give shelter and warmth for plants and insects


between the 8th and 9th holes, in the centre of the course and a hub in its design. It’s putting conservation and ecology at the heart of the course, and reinforcing the downland heritage.


“Once established, the flora and fauna in several chalk scrapes will be in the eyesight of players throughout their rounds, and ensure that the course fits perfectly into the landscape, both visually and ecologically,” Iestyn enthused.


Creating scrapes, by removing virtually all the top soil to reveal the chalk beneath, sounds simple, but the complex ecosystem of downland flora that has evolved over millions of years, requires a myriad of hollows and undulations that create marginal microclimates in which the natural species can gain a precious foothold. Iestyn admits that the idea for chalk scrapes was born largely by accident, when clearing the base of a copse and scraping back to the bare earth. However, working with the local branch of Butterfly Conservation, the team has learned and refined the techniques to recreate the natural features. Clive Wood of Butterfly Conservation has


worked closely with Duncan and believes Corhampton has the potential to host breeding populations of many butterfly, moth and other pollinator species. He highlights the good potential for colonisation for three ‘high priority’ classified species: the small blue and white admiral butterflies and the striped lychnis moth. “However, the value of the work at Corhampton also offers huge benefits for so- called common species, where over two thirds of all UK butterflies are in long-term decline.”


Clive points out that, from Butterfly Conservation’s perspective, typically just 20- 35% of a golf course is intensively managed, involving close mowing and the application of fertilisers and weed management practices. “That leaves large areas potentially available for wildlife conservation and proactive ecology.”


He emphasised that none of the ecology work is intended to interfere with the enjoyment of the course by its members, or with its efficient management by the professional greenkeeping team. “It’s hoped that the new habitat will build upon the excellent work of Iestyn and Duncan, and further enhance the enjoyment of members by encouraging more butterflies and greater biodiversity to visit and inhabit the course,” he added.


Where Corhampton is set, high on the Hampshire Downs, within an intensively farmed landscape, the golf course can provide essential safe havens and habitat services for wildlife.


The conservation work is providing essential breeding and foraging habitat for many wildlife species, notably small mammals, bats, birds, butterflies, moths, reptiles and many insects.


“That creates essential source populations of species, which are able to colonise surrounding habitat where opportunities arise. Furthermore, it’s a ‘stepping stone’ between other habitats, which facilitates the movement of species through a landscape.” “This latter service makes populations more robust and able to resist chance events and threats, such as fire, disease and gradual habitat degradation, for example.” Along with the innovative chalk scrapes, other conservation work by Duncan and the team at Corhampton include the rich and diverse flora in the out of play rough, including orchid species and parasitic plants, encouraged by the ‘cut and collect’ grassland management.


Small areas of lightly managed or unmanaged ground, often between a green and tee, have generated conditions suitable for wild plants such as cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis)and garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolate), the main larval food plants of the orange tip butterfly.


Duncan has strategically left piles of dead and dying wood at several sites around the course, in both sunny and shaded areas. It’s a technique the Game & Wildlife


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