Grouse and hen-harriers depend on heather for vital coverage and nutrition. However, the recent ban on chemically treating bracken means natural vegetation are at the risk of becoming overrun by bracken.
If this were to happen, the birds’ food source would have to be substituted with manual feeding, their habitat would be affected and the estate’s business would suffer.
Plan Bee offers a natural alternative for protecting the heather, gorse, broom and rowan, thereby helping to maintain grouse and hen-harriers’ food source and habitat.
The hives will be removed at the end of June and we charge on a per-acre basis. (This trouble-shooting pollination is already common practice in the US, particularly with almond trees that have a three-day pollination window. In the UK, Plan Bee is probably three to four years ahead of the game.)
By supplying one Highland estate with 150 hives over the period that the rapeseed flowers (April-June) we estimate an increase in yield of 15-22%.
