Raymond Brown join Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Company seeking to create haven for bees across its sites to aid recovery of UK bee populations

RAYMOND Brown Quarry Products have joined the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, highlighting the company’s dedication to the protection of the natural environment and improvement of biodiversity through its quarrying operations. Through this partnership, the business will work with the Trust to introduce nectar-rich plants to its quarries and restoration sites.

‘Having become aware of the collapsing bumblebee populations, our Environmental Committee became concerned and wanted to learn more,’ said the company’s technical and environmental manager, Nick Hardacre. ‘When it then became clear that both Brickworth Quarry and Binnegar Quarry overlapped with a range of some endangered species of bees, we simply had to act.

‘We joined the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to benefit from their expertise and learn about constructing habitats and integrating pollinator-friendly flowers where possible. We hope to do all we can to create a haven for bees across our sites and aid in the bees’ recovery across the country.’

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is a national conservation charity, established in 2006 by two academics whose research had uncovered serious concerns about bumblebee sustainability and survival. In the last 80 years, bumblebee populations have been decimated; two native species have become extinct and a further eight of the UK’s 24 species are endangered.

The Trust, which has a vision to create a world where bumblebees are thriving and valued, bases its policies and practical conservation work on constant evaluation of scientific research and best practice.

Its current activities have included creating and restoring wildflower habitats in the areas where rare bumblebees need it most, landscape-scale conservation projects around the UK, and giving land managers, farmers and local communities practical advice on enhancing biodiversity for the benefit of bumblebees and other wild pollinators.

‘Minerals sites offer excellent opportunities to provide habitat and forage for many of the 24 species of bumblebee in the UK,’ said Tessa Brooks of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

‘Bumblebees are hard-working and versatile pollinators of many food crops and wildflower species but have been declining due to the widespread loss of wildflower grasslands and changes in agricultural practices.

‘In the last 80 years our bumblebee populations have crashed; two species have become nationally extinct and several others have declined dramatically.

‘We are thrilled with the enthusiasm and commitment of Raymond Brown Quarry Products Ltd to their restoration and land-management activities to increase biodiversity and wildlife, and through their membership, providing funds to support the Trust’s conservation and educational activities.’