Plight of the bumblebee and other pollinators

The Government’s launch in June of an urgent review of the crisis facing bees and other pollinators in the UK was heartening news. But in its pledge to introduce a national pollinator strategy, it will be vital that the Government thinks creatively and deploys every weapon in its arsenal to protect pollinators and the essential work they do.

Living walls, green screens and other forms of vertical planting can dramatically boost biodiversity levels in restricted spaces and urban areas because they take up just a fraction of the space required by traditional green areas. With the right selection of plant species, living walls can offer a vital source of nectar for pollinating insects, and provide a network of green corridors that better link built-up areas to the surrounding countryside.

Mobilane’s LivingWall for Waitrose in Bracknell, Berkshire (pictured below) is just one example of a vertical planting scheme created with the specific aim of attracting bees and other wildlife into an urban site. The results have been spectacular – an attractive wall with year-round interest that also supports local biodiversity.

Of course, the Government is right to review the use of pesticides and consider how to properly protect pollinators’ usual habitats like wildflower meadows. Existing government initiatives include 12 new Nature Improvement Areas and the promotion and funding of the sowing of nectar flower mixes on farmland. More drastically, in April the European Union suspended the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides linked to serious harm in bees - despite the opposition of the UK ministers. But the scale of the problem is epic.

In the UK, wild honey bees are nearly extinct, solitary bees are declining in more than half the areas studied and some species of bumblebee have been lost altogether. This trend is repeating worldwide, yet bees and other pollinators fertilise three-quarters of global food crops - their monetary value to world agriculture runs into billion of pounds.

Experts are calling on the Government to enhance the food and nesting sites available to pollinators including flies, butterflies, moths, wasps and beetles, as well as bees. Put simply, we need to plant more flowering plants; the UK alone lost a whopping 97% of our flower-rich meadows between 1930 and 1984.

The challenge is huge but wherever there is bare wall surface, we have an opportunity to help create a habitat and food for pollinators. Each and every additional square meter of flowering vertical planting helps to restore the odds in bees’ favour and this benefits us all.

Mobilane's LivingWall for Waitrose in Bracknell, Berkshire

Bumblebee visiting the LivingWall

2013 'A Year of Air'

Europe – in particular the European Union – is very much in the news at the moment. David Cameron stated earlier this week on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he is looking to seek a ‘fresh settlement’ with Europe and is due to make a much-anticipated speech on the issue on Friday. 

Whatever your views on Britain’s involvement with Europe, 2013 looks like it will be an important year when it comes to the formulation of EU air pollution policy. This year is the EU’s Year of Air. For those unfamiliar with this initiative, it is a time when EU air pollution policy will be revised.

With a recent survey by Eurobarometer, the EU’s public opinion poll analysts informing us that the majority of EU citizens do not think their governments do enough to tackle harmful pollutants, now is a good a time as any to join together and push for appropriate legislation to be put in place across the entire region to create standards that will drastically reduce the level of pollutants in the air and so decrease the public health consequences.

Only last year the EU ruled that the UK is already in breach of its air quality directive and that 16 areas of the UK will not meet the legal NO2 limits by 2015.  But what is government putting in place to help resolve this?

Introducing more greenery into the inner city areas where the PM10 and other pollutant levels are at their highest is a quick and easy step to begin improving air quality. Encouragingly, a number of local councils and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, are beginning the process of introducing living walls and green screens in order to absorb pollutants. 

Why use living walls and green screens? Well, planting trees is all very well, however time is needed for them to establish themselves in their new home and grow.  Green screens, such as ours, are a more convenient choice as they can begin to work on reducing the levels immediately. We have seen a growth in interest for these and now even sell screens that are as high as 3 meters. 

Local authorities should be held more responsible and be given further support in reducing the air pollutants in their areas. With some co-ordinated thinking, hopefully the EU’s Year of Air can help them achieve this – for the sake of everyone’s lungs.

Work with researchers and clients undertaken to highlight benefits of welI designed green spaces

We have started a pioneering partnership with academics from Staffordshire University which we believe will help both our existing and future customers better understand how well-managed green planted spaces can enhance wellbeing and help to solve social and environmental problems.

From improving mental health and reducing crime to improving air quality, the issues that the installation of a well-designed green space can resolve are diverse. In order to put these benefits on a more scientific footing, we, along with Staffordshire University, are asking clients – whether from the private or public sector – to come up with suggestions of what areas they would like investigating. Scientists from the university will then work with the client and us to research the precise benefits that these intelligently designed green spaces can bring to a particular area, for example building insulation, employee attendance rates or an improvement in general human well-being.

Clients will then have some scientific data that will enable them to fully grasp the problems that green spaces can help them solve.

Research by Staffordshire University is already under way and scientists are conducting a study which is investigating how successfully carefully designed green spaces influence biodiversity, improve building insulation and capture microscopic pollutants, thereby improving air quality and human health.

The current research being completed at Staffordshire University will help to provide more information on how pollutants known as PM10s – particulate matter that is less than 10 microns in diameter – are absorbed by plants. The reduction of PM10 levels is a focus of policy for the Department for Transport and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The three-year research study, which is in its final year, is being carried out by PhD student under the supervision of two Professors at the University.  A variety of sophisticated scientific techniques and instruments are being used to understand the nature of a green space’s interaction with particulate matter, including an environmental scanning electron microscope, which is used to establish the size of particles that are trapped by plants. Once complete, the research is due to be published in a number of international peer-reviewed journals.

Through an on-going partnership with the university, we hope we will bring similar scientific rigour to research into the other benefits of carefully planned and maintained green spaces.

Our Green Screens help Marlow become a safer place for drivers

We have helped to increase road safety and support the environment in Marlow as we have installed our Green Screens. Our six-foot high Green Screens can now be seen on the central reserve area of the A4155 Marlow Road, on the east side of the roundabout at the junction with the A404.  They have already proved effective in the aims of reducing both driver distraction and roundabout approach speed.

This project comes about after the local authority in Marlow following a review of the analysis of reported injury collisions in the last three years took the initiative to act to improve safety at the junction.  It was found that these were mainly as a result of excessive approach speeds towards the roundabout.  The installation of our Green Screens have restricted the visibility on the approach to the roundabout which has instantly provided the desired effect and created an aesthetically pleasing barrier which is sustainable and environmentally sound.

The addition of the screens serves to restrict drivers’ views of traffic to their right as they approach the roundabout, encouraging them to reduce their speed. Initial results from speed flow data show an average total reduction of around 4mph in approach speeds and also a significant reduction in the number of vehicles approaching the roundabout at higher speeds.

Green screens are a simple yet remarkably effective concept, featuring a biodegradable pot which holds a wire mesh ‘fence’ onto which vegetation, usually ivy, is grown. Our screens are cultivated offsite and are delivered ready to install. As soon as they are installed they provide an attractive barrier solution with aesthetic, environmental and maintenance benefits over traditional walls and fences.  They also provide an acoustic barrier which reduces the traffic noise in the surrounding environment.  Unlike hedges the vegetation in the screens does not grow significantly above the height of the wire fence, so they do not require regular pruning, and they are much narrower yet more dimensionally stable than hedges.

Green Screens have a wide range of uses, including encouraging biodiversity, improving air quality and tackling graffiti.  Local authorities are increasingly adopting innovative uses of the screens as they continue to see their versatility, sustainability and low maintenance costs. We are pleased to see Marlow leading the way and the results from this installation.