Poultry firm joins in the fight to save bees

A NORTH Yorkshire egg producer is joining the fight to reverse the decline of the bumblebee by working with its suppliers to develop wildflower habitats on their farms.
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A NORTH Yorkshire egg producer is joining the fight to reverse the decline of the bumblebee by working with its suppliers to develop wildflower habitats on their farms.

Chippindale Foods Limited has enlisted the expertise of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT) to establish bee-friendly environments on free range chicken farms which produce its eggs.

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The firm supplies more than 3.5m eggs a week to UK retailers by working with about 30 poultry businesses at farms across Yorkshire and the North East.

To begin with, Chippindale is working with Crooked Dale Farm near Driffield to make it more attractive to bees, while two more of the firm’s suppliers, both in East Yorkshire, have expressed an interest in developing similar habitats on their sites.

In the last 100 years, bumblebee populations have severely declined, the BBCT say, with two species having become extinct in the UK in this time.

Lucy Rothstein, the trust’s chief executive officer, said free range chicken farms provided an ideal opportunity for the creation of wildflower habitats that will support local populations of bumblebees and other wild pollinators.

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“I am delighted to be working with Chippindale on habitat creation on their free range farms,” she added.

“This partnership certainly helps to further our vision for a future in which our communities and countryside are rich in bumblebees and colourful flowers, supporting a diversity of wildlife and habitats for everyone to enjoy.

“This unique partnership will provide a host of benefits once the wildflower areas are established: bumblebees will have access to the pollen and nectar that they need from the wildflowers; farmers will notice more bumblebees and other wild pollinators which could increase yields of pollinated crops; hens will have access to more tasty invertebrate snacks; and communities will enjoy seeing these beautiful wildflower strips adding colour to their local countryside.”

Nick Chippindale, managing director of Chippindale Foods, said the firm had been looking at ways of better utilising the free ranges its hens have access to when it discovered the work of the BBCT.

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“We have an ideal opportunity with our free range egg farmers to help increase bumblebee populations by planting large areas of wildflowers on the range,” Mr Chippindale said.

“We are really buzzing with excitement to be working with the BBCT and look forward to evolving our ‘Bee friendly Farms’ with the expert knowledge and passion of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.”

Eggs produced at bee-friendly farms will be labelled as such on supermarket shelves and packs will include information about the work of the BBCT inside, he said.

Last month, Chippindale Foods completed a move from Starbeck to a new purpose-built grading, packing and distribution centre at Flaxby, near Knaresborough.

Conservation work pays off

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A bumblebee species driven to extinction in the UK has nested for the first time in a quarter of a century.

The short-haired bumblebee disappeared from the UK in the 1980s and efforts made to reintroduce them at the RSPB Dungeness reserve in Kent have now paid off. After two releases of queen bees, offspring worker bees have been recorded for the first time.

Despite the success, Dr Nikki Gammans, who leads the project, said bumblebees are among the most threatened wildlife in the UK.