Bumblebee Conservation Trust

Your valued support allows us to continue our essential work and to strive towards our vision of a world where bumblebees are thriving and valued by everyone. Here are a few of our most recent updates that your generous donations allow us to work on: BeeWalkers count one million bees

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s citizen science scheme BeeWalk received its millionth bee sighting, a Tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum), spotted near Glossop, Derbyshire, in late June.

The Trust's BeeWalk scheme provides key information on how Britain’s bumblebees are doing. Volunteers walk a fixed route each month and count the bumblebees they see (and, optionally, other bee species).

Dr Richard Comont, Science Manager at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and head of the BeeWalk recording scheme since 2013, said, “It’s astonishing to see the millionth record arrive, and all thanks to the hundreds of amazing volunteers who walk the countryside counting bees for us. Thanks to their efforts we have a dataset which lets us see, almost in real time, what’s happening to bumblebee populations nationwide and provides a fantastic resource for guiding our conservation work.”

Dr Comont added, “It’s lovely to see that the millionth individual was a Tree bumblebee as this species is one of the few species doing well nationwide – a great success story.”

The BeeWalk dataset has grown into one of the largest bumblebee datasets in the world. BeeWalk data is a both a source of information for understanding how Britain’s bumblebees are doing, and critical for taking decisions on how we can best help bumblebees to survive and thrive.

You can read more about this success story at www.bumblebeeconservation.org

What's Buzzing in the East End?

London may seem like an unlikely location for a conservation project with its towering skyscrapers, bustling streets, and sprawling urban landscape, but hidden across 11 boroughs in East London are flourishing, flower-rich spaces that are home to some of the UK’s rarest bumblebee species.

Believing there are 4, maybe 5, rare bumblebees across east London, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust's new project Buzzing in the East End (B.E.E) started a 12 month development phase in January to determine the current state of their habitat and what is needed for them to thrive in our city.

In the last few months, the project has begun exploring these boroughs with a series of bumblebee blitz surveys, with the exciting discovery of a Shrill carder bumblebee (Bombus sylvarum), one of the rarest in England and Wales in Southmere Park. Find out more about the successes in their latest blog on our website.

Moss carder bees of Cornwall

Cornwall’s coastline is characterised by steep cliffs, picturesque beaches and beautiful moorland making it a popular destination to explore. It’s also home to one of the UK’s most scarce bumblebees, the Moss carder bumblebee (Bombus muscorum).

Once widespread in the UK, the Moss carder bumblebee is in now in decline and found mostly in small, fragmented populations. Two key sites on Cornwall’s north coast, Penhale and Gwithian and Upton Towans, have been identified to better understand why this species is declining in the south of England.

In June, new BeeWalks were established at Penhale and Upton Towans to help gain better knowledge of the abundance and foraging behaviour of this scarce bumblebee. These key sites will now be monitored throughout the year providing essential data, key to the Beewalk scheme’s ability to act as an early warning system for species decline, including the Moss carder bumblebee.

A community is buzzing!

Last year, Skills for Bees: Cymru Project Officer Tom Bucher-Flynn worked with Buglife on the Neath Port Talbot B-lines project (funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund) to deliver a 'buzzing communities' day, teaching participants about surveys and basic insect identification.

The community were also gifted with locally sourced plug plants, which they planted in a newly prepared flowerbed at Cimla Fire Station. During the autumn months, Tom advised the community not to tidy up and just leave it 'bee'.

Well the results are in this year and the flowerbed is stunning! Regular bumblebees and other insects are attracted to the wildflowers daily providing much needed nectar.

Tom Bucher-Flynn said "It was brilliant to meet Cimla gardening club last year as part of the Trust's Buzzing community days delivered through Buglife's Neath Port Talbot B-lines project, and even better to see a year later their care for the fire stations flowerbeds has really paid off, and now the area is alive with colour and native pollinators".

It just shows the big difference a small action can make to our bumblebees. Do you have a community that would like to help the UK’s bumblebees? Take a look at our Bee the Change resources for small micro actions.