Hundreds of wildflowers planted by volunteers in Walsall are helping to attract rare bees to the Purple Horizons Nature Recovery site.

The Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project intends to restore and connect areas of the heathlands across 12,000 hectares on the outskirts of the urban West Midlands.

A large portion of the project aims to create space for bees and wasps in freshly dug earth including the Tormentil Mining Bee, a priority species.

Around 80% of heathlands have been lost over the last two centuries, causing a decline in the Tormentil Mining Bee population.

The Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project, a partnership that includes Natural England, Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust (BBCWT), Walsall Council and the University of Birmingham.

The wider project aims to create a network of heathlands, wetlands, woodlands and grasslands to help aid in the recovery and long-term resilience of the area’s reptiles, birds and pollinators.

Natural England’s deputy director for the West Midlands, Emma Johnson, expresses her gratitude to the volunteers who helped plant hundreds of wildflowers.

“A thriving population of wild bee species is critical to supporting healthy natural systems and for pollinating crops.”

Several partners across the initiative are currently trialing different habitat creation methods for bees. Their effectiveness is being monitored by Aaron Bhambra, a researcher at the University of Birmingham.

Bhambra says: “The work we are carrying out restoring locally important sites like these is critical for conserving threatened pollinators across the region. The wildflowers are starting to flower and seem to have established well at the sites, we had bees foraging on them whilst we were planting them on the day so I am sure they are being used.”

Walsall Council was recently awarded a Defra Bees Needs Champion award in recognition of the flower planting and creation of bee-beaches.