DCs for Bees

'Orchards In The Community'

Orchards In The Community is part of the DCs for Bees initiative.  Orchards play a key role in providing an early food source for our struggling bees as they emerge from winter.  To help protect the bees and increase pollination, we hope to plant in excess of 1,000 mixed fruit orchards all over Ireland during the coming dormant season.

The orchards will be planted by our Host in Ireland Partners and other interested companies, in collaboration with community groups and organisations throughout Ireland in

November 2021 and February 2022.

'We want to better coexist with biodiversity and help return food and shelter for pollinators to our island.'

All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021-2025

Our Aim

Encourage Biodiversity​

Orchards are classified as ‘Priority Habitats’. This is because they make ideal homes for thousands of species of flora and fauna, including lichens, fungi and beetles.

To 

Protect & Feed Pollinators

Fruit trees blossom early in the year, providing an important food source for our pollinators at the end of winter.

The deliberate spacing between trees also lets more sunlight in, which is welcome for flying insects, like butterflies and bees, who need warmth to power their flight muscles.

Community Awareness & Action

We will provide a means for organisation & community purpose based activity which will foster an appreciation of, and awareness for, protecting and encouraging biodiverse habitats in our local areas.

The Role of Orchards

Orchards have played an important role in communities for many centuries, providing a focal point, a gathering space, and a place where people and nature successfully work together to create abundant harvests.

​

Orchards provide vital green spaces in our cities and towns, where people are encouraged to interact with nature either through becoming custodians of the trees or by simply being around them and enjoying their shade, beauty and fruit.

Orchards & Communities

In an age of increasing social isolation, community orchards are wonderful spaces for bringing people together around a common, positive purpose. Orchards are cherished natural areas that give sustenance to people as well as wildlife.

In this time of climate emergency, when many of us feel disempowered, urban community orchards become a tangible way for people to take positive, practical, local action on food security, tree coverage and biodiversity loss.

We put out the call for pledges for Orchards In The Community in March of this year.  The response from our Host in Ireland partners and other interested companies has been phenomenal.  We have already surpassed our initial target of 1,000 mixed fruit orchards. 

Some of these pledges will be placed in a Community Planting Pot which will act as a bank of Orchards that local Community groups and organisations can draw on, to plant in their own towns and communities throughout Ireland.

Webinar Replay

Measuring Success

Working in collaboration with the National Biodiversity Data Centre, this project will enable Ireland for the first time to track concurrent pollination success. Something that is only made possible by planting the same orchards in multiple locations in the one growing season (Nov 2021 - March 2022).

Our Orchard Bundle

To get involved with "Orchards In The Community" please email us at marketing@hostinireland.com

DCs for Bees Blog