Queen collection

Hello everyone

We have been in Sweden for the last week collecting the queens. There was eight of us in total, four on each transect. We saw lots of different bumblebee species such as Bombus sylvarum, B. ruderarius, B. muscorum, B. barbutellus and many other more common species. Bombus subterraneus is a common species of the open landscape areas seen regularly foraging on white dead nettle.

We managed to collect very close to our maximum number. We arrived back in the UK this morning and have taken the queens to Royal Holloway University of London to begin their quarantine. The queens will then be released at Dungeness.

More soon...

Follow us on Twitter; shbumblebeeproject@nikkigammans
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--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Hello everyone

Alan and I have been trying to collect as much pollen as we can over the last couple of weeks. Its proving to be quite hard with all this rain. We have managed to get started through! Alan will be collecting pollen whilst we are in Sweden and during the time the queens are in quarantine. My team in Sweden will also be doing the same.

We have been collecting the pollen off of bumblebee queens visiting white dead nettle a favourite forage plant for subt. This photograph is of the RSPB Dungeness reserve's white dead nettle patch. We are also collecting it from Kent Wildlife Trust Romney Marsh visitor centre and along road side verges in Lydd.

Its essential to fed the queens whilst in quarantine as they need the protein to develop their ovaries so they can lay eggs. They will be in quarantine for about two weeks.

We did a press release today and this was featured in The Guardian, Evening Standard, Daily Express, BBC radio Kent and BBC news southeast. If you missed the BBC news clip follow the link below!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-17863138

Follow us on Twitter; shbumblebeeproject@nikkigammans
Follow us on facebook; The short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Bumblebee identification sessions

Bumblebee identification sessions. Do come along to our summer events to learn more about bumblebee identification.

Until next time.......


Follow us on Twitter; shbumblebeeproject@nikkigammans
Follow us on facebook; The short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

BBKA Spring Convention

Hello everyone

I spent Friday and Saturday at the BBKA Spring Convention where myself and Nick Withers gave two bumblebee identification sessions and we had a stall on the Saturday ran by Ian and Linda Gammans.

We had a terrific response from the honeybee keepers and their support for the reintroduction has been amazing. So thank you to everyone who came along and spoke to us!

Its now under a week until we leave for Sweden. I will keep you posted how we get on, on this blog and on our twitter and facebook accounts...

Follow us on Twitter; shbumblebeeproject@nikkigammans
Follow us on facebook; The short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Photographs of ID day

Follow us on Twitter; shbumblebeeproject@nikkigammans
Follow us on facebook; The short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Bumblebee ID day

Hello everyone

We had a great day at the RSPB Dungeness reserve yesterday on our bumblebee identification course. Thanks to all the people who came along and to Nick and Geoff for helping with the day. We spent the day talking through the lifecycle of the bumblebee, their ecology and decline and how we can help. We then talked through identification of the common bumblebees and looked through specimens. We then moved onto identification of rare and cuckoo bumblebees.

We have lots of walks and talks coming up this season so do come along. Its not long now until we set sail for Sweden to begin collecting our queens for their return. Presently we are collecting pollen from other long tongue species to fed our queens whilst they are in quarantine.

Till next time....

Follow us on Twitter; shbumblebeeproject@nikkigammans
Follow us on facebook; The short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Bumblebee, fly or solitary?

Some interesting web pages on bee-fly from the Natural History Museum

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2011/april/bee-mimic-flies-in-to-a-garden-near-you96805.html

And from Hymettus on the flower bee (which does look very similar to a bumblebee)

http://hymettus.org.uk/downloads/Info_sheets_2010/Anthophora_plumipes_infosheet.pdf

Follow us on Twitter; shbumblebeeproject@nikkigammans
Follow us on facebook; The short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.