A PIONEERING new project is being introduced to help rare wildlife thrive on the Ayrshire coast.

The Irvine to Girvan Nectar Network, created by the Ayrshire Sustainability Group (ASG), is a partnership venture between businesses, wildlife organisations, local authorities and other bodies, with the aim of creating interconnected corridors of habitat within which insects like bees and butterflies can spread and thrive.

The Network project receives financial support from the R&A, golf’s governing body, with Irvine Golf Course becoming the latest participant to sign up.

Surveys have identified the Ayrshire coast as being a particularly important area for several nationally scarce species of solitary bee, such as the hairy-footed flower-bee, recorded nowhere else in Scotland, and the Northern colletes mining bee.

Solitary mining bees look like small honey bees, and are important species for pollinating crops. They usually nest in holes in the ground, and have only a weak sting, which they rarely use.

Jo Kingsbury from RSPB Scotland, said: “Many sites here in Ayrshire are already great places for wildlife, and with just a few small changes, they can be even better.

“Irvine Golf Course, for example, was found to be home to a number of rare solitary bees. As these like to nest in sandy banks, the golf course brought in a digger, and with the help of local volunteers, created large ‘bee banks’ on their course, specifically designed to appeal to the bees.

“Through the Nectar Network, wildflower meadows have also been sown at United Paper Mills in Irvine, Belleisle and Seafield Golf Courses and Eglinton Country Park, and flowering trees planted at William Grant and Sons Girvan Distillery. It’s been a real partnership effort, with all the different businesses and organisations coming together to support wildlife in Ayrshire.”

Now, the golf course at Irvine is the next to add its’ name to a list which already includes Dundonald Links, Sodexo, Glaxo Smith Kline, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and RSPB Scotland.

Derek Wilson, head green keeper at Irvine Golf Course, said: “We were surprised to learn our existing sand bank was such an important feature for bees, but delighted that we could get involved with the Nectar Network project to create more similar habitat nearby.

"We’ve also signed up to have a survey to identify areas on the course that could be improved further, for example through wildflower sowing and rough management. We’re very happy to be a partner.”