Across the Channel Islands important habitats for pollinators are mainly being lost to the building of homes and other developments, insensitive land management practices and the intensification of farming practices.
More and more of these species are becoming heavily reliant on, and largely confined to, the managed nature reserves and to private gardens for both feeding and nesting opportunities but outside of these areas opportunities for them are fewer and are declining.
The increasing human population puts immense pressure on space for other species in Jersey and the need to develop land to provide for this increasing population directly leads to a decrease in the feeding and nesting opportunities of other species.
The loss of flower-rich grasslands for feeding, the loss of open bare ground for nesting, the over-zealous cutting of roadside verges destroying most of the spring and summer flowers there and even the occasional over-management, or inappropriate management, of nature reserves are all contributing to the loss of vital habitat for pollinators to fulfil their lives.
Any reduction in plant species, especially those used by specialist pollinators, will have a detrimental effect on the pollinators that rely on them.