South of England show

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The summer so far

Dear all
 
Well I have been as busy as a bee these last couple of weeks with many events, bumblebee walk and talks and completing transects with volunteers.
 
Firstly myself and three volunteers were at the South of England show for three days the week before last with our bumblebee stall. We were very pleased with the number of people who came along to talk to us and showed interest in bumblebees. Many thanks to Linda and Ian Gammans and Robert Fowler who all volunteered for the three days. We will be back next year!
 
Along with four volunteers I have been walking transects across and around Dungeness/Romney marsh to survey all the land created for bumblebees. So fantastic news so far, we have noted many humilis queens (in fact four queens on sage in Derek Jarmins garden) and some of our other rare species seem to be spreading out! This is great news and really positive feedback on all the work gone into creating habitat for them.
 
I am doing a walk and talk at Romshed farm with Kent Wildlife trust on Friday from 5pm and a bee walk and talk with Tunbridge Wells museum on Saturday 10-1pm. Do come along if your free!
 
Till next time....
 

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Bombus humilis

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Bumblebee events and the tree bumblebee

Here's some more pics of this years events so far this year. I have also seen a surprising or perhaps not so surprising number of Bombus hypnorums (tree bumblebee) this year. This is a new coloniser to the UK arriving in 2001 and has managed to spread its self out far and wide. This picture is taken at my parents house in Surrey! If you see one do let us at BBCT know as we are monitoring their movement!
 
Till next time....

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Some sad news

Hello everyone
 
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but we have had to postpone our subt release for this year. Unfortunately our queens died in hibernation. It is of course very upsetting to have got this far and for them to have died but we have learnt an awful lot and the rearing can only get better from now. I am working closely with my New Zealand colleagues to perfect the rearing technique to raise more queens to increase their chances of survival. We have everything crossed for next year.
 
So this year I am now focusing on creating even more land for the bumblebees and doing lots of events. If you are in or around Sussex do come along to the South of England show which is a three day event from the 10-12th June, its looks fantastic and it is the first year we will be attending. I will be there along with my three volunteers so do come and say hello. We also have a weekend event with Kent Wildlife Trust at their Pegwell Bay reserve, this runs from 10-4 both Saturday and Sunday, I will be there on the Sunday if anyone wants to come along for a bumblebee walk and talk! I have many events this summer so do look at the events page on the BBCT website.
 
Here's some pics of events so far this year.....

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