Designing multi-purpose habitats: utilisation of wild bird seed species by pollinating insects

There are now many competing pressures on farmland to provide space for urban development, transport, wildlife habitat, and a wide range of essential ecosystem goods and services. Future agri-environment schemes will need to be multi-functional and more efficient in their use of the land resource. We present the results of an experiment to examine the feasibility of developing high quality, multi-purpose habitats for both birds and pollinating insects on field margins. Foraging activity of bumblebees and butterflies was recorded in stands of nine seed crops species and four pollen- and nectar-rich species between May and September. Most perennial species did not flower until year 2 when they provided a similar flower resource to that of the annual species. Short-tongued bees showed a marked preference for annual seed crop species. Long-tongued bees showed a significant preference for perennial legumes. Butterfly abundance was also highest on the perennial legumes.