New ecological restoration work in favor of wild pollinators

Ecological restoration work on natural habitats has recently been carried out on the moorland sites of “La Judie” in Champsac and “Chenevières” in Pageas, as part of the LIFE project “Wild Bees” in favor of wild pollinators.

From October 7 to 10, mowing operations were thus carried out in order to maintain the heather and dwarf gorse moorland environments and to rejuvenate the "mature" moorland areas, with a view to improving their state of conservation and preserve biological diversity characteristic of these ecosystems. This is maintain open and flowery environments so that they remain attractive to wild pollinators, in a global context of collapse of insect populations.

Occasionally, some areas of these sites have also been "stripped". This operation, which consists of removing the surface layer of soil and positioning it in a windrow on the edges, allows the seeds of plant species characteristic of these poor environments to germinate and develop, where the bracken fern, for example, had uniformly colonized the area. The cleared areas also encourage the presence of wild bees dependent on these environments, in particular by serving as nesting site for wild bee species known as “terricolous” (which live in the ground).

This ecological restoration work is a continuation of that carried out between February and April 2024 on the Argentine plateau in La Rochebeaucourt-et-Argentine, on the Plagne hillside in Rudeau-Ladosse and on the moorland known as the "Forgeas tile works" in Saint-Bazile.

The LIFE “Wild bees” project is a European project carried out across the 5 Regional Natural Parks of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and of which the Périgord-Limousin Regional Natural Park is the coordinator.