Happy new year!

Hello everyone

Happy new year! I hope you all had a good Christmas.

I am now busy planning the Swedish May expedition to collect emerging Bombus subterraneus queens for their reintroduction to the UK. It should prove to be a very exciting year! We have recreated lots of bumblebee friendly habitat across the release sites of Dungeness and Romney Marsh and hope this will give the released queens a good start.

I'm often asked at talks and events where to buy wild flower seed from. If you are considering resowing a larger area I would advice visiting the High Weald Initiative web pages. The seed is wild harvested from local sources and the High Weald Landscape Trust and High Weald AONB partnership project has a fantastic website where you can learn more about what they do WMI Project - http://www.highweald.org/look-after/our-projects/weald-meadows-initiative.html and for information on support, seed sourcing and sowing information - http://www.highweald.org/look-after/property-management/grassland.html.

If you are interested in obtaining some plugs of wild flowers for your garden I recommend the English Cottage Garden http://www.englishplants.co.uk.

I shall write soon with how are plans are progressing for this year
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Quiz afternoon

Hello everyone,

We held our first quiz afternoon in aid of the short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project on Sunday. We had over 60 attendees and 12 teams. It was great fun and we managed to raise over £450 for the project. This is a fantastic amount and many thanks to everyone who came along and all the volunteers who helped on the day.

Next year we will hold our second bumblebee garden party in Littlestone and we are also thinking of putting on a golf day as well... More about these events nearer the time

Til next time Nikki
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Carder bee nest

Hello

Here are some photographs taken by Heather Silk of a carder bee nest in her garden which she found under a bucket! Hopefully she may have a daughter queen return the next year or even another bumblebee species!

Last night I gave a talk at Enfield honeybee keepers association. I would like to thank the association for inviting and it was very interesting to talk to all the honeybee keepers about their experiences.

The quiz afternoon is proving to be quite popular with over nine teams reserving their place. If you are interested in joining us for the afternoon on the 27th November, the event is from 11:30-2:30, tickets cost £5 which includes a ploughmans lunch and tea and coffee. There is also a raffle and our usual stall. Do contact me if you are interested in coming along...

Till next time....
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Honeybee convention

Hello everyone

The project has been busy recently giving talks to interested parties and over three days last week we had a stall at the honeybee convention. We attended this event last year and it was a great success so we were keen to go back again this year. It was great to see many faces from honeybee keeper associations where I have given talks. Many thanks to volunteers Ian and Linda Gammans, Nick Withers and Rob Jones for all their help and enthusiasm. I will also be attending the honeybee spring convention next April where I will give two workshops on bumblebee identification.

We have now received the results of the disease screening of the 60 short-haired bumblebees collected from Sweden. Its good news as only 7 of the 60 queens had nematodes and none had any known viruses of either honeybee or bumblebees. This means we can go ahead next year with the reintroduction. These results are now being used to write a disease risk assessment for the reintroduction which we must adhere to next year.

Over the coming weeks I will be continuing to give talks and working on the project reports. If you are interested in reading more about the project do visit the Hymettus website which had links to all reports.

Until next time....
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

School group

--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Yellow rattle seed

Hello everyone,

Its been a while since I last wrote a blog, so a few things have been happening. We collected a lot of green hay from RSPB Dungeness which we spread at Rye Harbour and Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm. This month we received over 5.4 hectares in yellow rattle seed as a donation from the High Weald Initiative which I spread along Dymchurch Sea Wall, Iden Lock on the Military Canal, Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm and Rye Harbour. It was brilliant to get so much seed to create fantastic habitat for bumblebees. The seed is all from a local source and the High Weald project has a fantastic website where you can learn more about what they do

http://www.highweald.org/look-after/our-projects/weald-meadows-initiative.html

Yellow rattle is particularly good as it is a hemi-parasite and can be used on more fertile land where grasses grow. I will be revisiting the areas sown next year to quantify how its got on.

I also visited a school group in Tunbridge Wells. We had a great afternoon with the pupils who learnt lots of interesting facts about bumblebees!

If anyone is free on Sunday the 27th November the subt project is hosting a quiz afternoon in Ashford. Its from 11:30-2:30, tickets cost £5 which includes a ploughmans lunch and tea and coffee. There are seven rounds and teams are up to 4/5 persons. There will also be a raffle with fantastic prizes! Do let me know if you would like to come!

Till next time.........
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Green hay cut

Chris Bentley from Rye Harbour nature reserve using his mower to cut the red clover stands. Volunteers from Rye Harbour and RSPB raking and bagging the green hay
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.