A wildlife charity has launched its biggest ever campaign aimed at helping the bees.

Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) is urging people to take part in its eight-month Get Dorset Buzzing initiative and pledge to do at least one thing in their garden to help create space and food for pollinators to thrive again.

The campaign, sponsored by the Gardens Group and Wessex Water, has launched today in response to the decline of pollinators nationally.

DWT will send out free packs to those who pledge to help, which includes a wall planner, wildflower seeds, information booklet and emails with seasonally themed support, tips and inspiration from wildlife gardening experts. The trust is hoping to get more than 2,000 people on board.

Get Dorset Buzzing is also supported by Kate Bradbury, wildlife gardening expert from BBC Gardeners’ World, and DWT’s new president, entomologist and TV presenter Dr George McGavin.

Dr McGavin said: “People often ask me why we should worry about the decline of bees, and the answer is simple: bees are arguably one of the most important insect groups on earth.

“Without pollination, we would have no flowering plants, no fruits or vegetables and we’d lose all the other insects and animals that depend on those flowering plants for survival. It’s hard to imagine a world without bees and other pollinators, but it would be a pretty bleak place and it certainly wouldn’t be a place I would wish to live.”

One of the main reasons pollinators are in decline is loss of habitat. Traditionally, pollinators would be found in wildflower meadows in the UK, but this habitat has declined by 97 per cent since the 1930s, DWT says.

DWT community conservation officer Katie Wilkinson said: “There are 320,000 gardens in Dorset, which together have huge potential to support what conservationists are doing on nature reserves.

“Added to parks, nature reserves and other wildlife sites, gardens are instrumental in creating green corridors for wildlife, most importantly through urban areas that have been developed on. Planting ‘bee friendly’ plants, leaving space ‘wild’, or putting up a bee hotel are just some of the things we can all be doing to provide space for pollinators to take shelter, feed, reproduce and carry out the pollination process.”

As part of the Get Dorset Buzzing campaign, DWT will be touring Dorset with its roadshow, sponsored by Dorset Tea, and stopping at visitor and garden centres across the county, as well as local events and venues. Sign up for a pack and find out more at dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/gdb-signup