The Greater Bristol Pollinator Strategy (GBPS), was developed and launched in Bristol Green Capital Year 2015 by a partnership of seven organisations (Avon Wildlife Trust, Bristol City Council, Buglife, University of Bristol, University of the West of England, Bristol Friends of the Earth, South Gloucestershire Council; see www.getbristolbuzzing.org). The GBPS is the local implementation of Defra’s National Pollinator Strategy published in November 2014 and is intended to operate as a case study for other cities and regions.

Workshops and partnership work in 2015 have identified the mapping of pollinator habitat in the Greater Bristol area as a priority action in achieving GBPS aims. We plan to create two sets of maps that will greatly aid the implementation of the GBPS actions:

1. Maps showing the location and extent of pollinator habitat across the city
2. Opportunity maps highlighting potential areas which can be converted to pollinator habitat or managed more favourably to improve value to pollinators and other wildlife

This project will build on ecosystem service mapping approaches developed by the West of England Nature Partnership which created a series of maps showing a range of ecological networks and ecosystem services in the West of England (www.wenp.org.uk/maps/). These maps were created by GIS consultants Environment Systems using the SENCE ecosystem mapping approach.

The pollinator maps will allow GBPS partners, including the councils, to more accurately identify suitable land for conservation activities and to create wildlife corridors across the city of Bristol. Furthermore, the project will develop an approach for mapping pollinator habitat at a city scale which can be shared with other cities and regions.