Biodiversity, Nature & Wildlife of Ballintubbert Gardens & House

Visit our award winning gardens with award winning wildlife

Get to know our bees

Every year from February to October our gardens are simply buzzing with the activity of our resident bees that are crucial for pollinating the flowers, fruit, and vegetables of our award winning organic gardens. When you are here, take the time too see if you can spot any of our resident species of bee. We are home to the Common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum), the Garden bumblebee (Bombus hortorum), the White-tailed bumble bee (bombus lucorum) and the Western honeybee (Apis mellifera).

Did you know?

The Garden bumblebee species, which is found flying around our grounds holds the world record for the longest tongue of any other bumblebee species in the world. This allows it to feed on many flowers that others can not. Similarly, the Common carder bee which you will most certainly see flying around our grounds has specialised long mouthparts which make it an exceptionally efficient pollinator for iconic Irish wildflowers such as Red Clover (Trifolium pratense), tufted vetches, and foxglove.

Enter our hoverfly haven

Our gardens are an exciting, and important reservoir for native Irish hoverflies. A staggering 7 different species of hoverfly can be seen using the vibrant native wildflowers we have dotted all around our grounds. Scientific studies carried out on our gardens showed that it is in fact our resident hoverflies which are doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to pollinating our award winning produce. So when out for a walk around our grounds, keep an eye our for these hidden heroes of Ballintubbert Gardens & House.

Our certified organic champions

The hoverflies using our grounds are not just pollinators. They are experts at pest control. During their larval stage they will consume pests such as aphids. One individual of the species known as the Marmalade hoverfly will easily consume 700 aphids. Without species like this we would not be able to carry out the natural organic processes we are so proud of at Ballintubbert Gardens & House.