Nikki's Blog - the SubT project

Queen collection

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:10:00 +0000

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
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.

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:06:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:36:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:34:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:34:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:32:00 +0000

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....

Bumblebee, fly or solitary?

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:11:00 +0000

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

Ferry to Sweden

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:29:00 +0000

Hello everyone

We have now booked the ferry for Sweden! We set sail on the 29th April. We leave from Harwich and arrive in Denmark where we have a 4-5 hour drive to Sweden. I have five volunteers coming over with me, so that's three for each transect! Its been a mild winter and warm spring over in Sweden as well, so it is best for us to journey over sooner. There is approximately a two week window to collect the queens in once they emerge from hibernation. They will be looking for nectar and nesting sites for this first time period, then once they collect pollen they will start to lay their eggs. Once queens begin to collect pollen we will not collect them as they will not nest again. I will be giving regular updates on this blog and on the projects facebook and twitter accounts.

Follow us on Twitter; shbumblebeeproject@nikkigammans
Follow us on facebook; The short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project

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.

Natural history museum pics

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:54:00 +0000

Paul wheeling in the trays of B. subterraneus specimens and volunteers looking over the specimens
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Natural History Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:51:00 +0000

Hello everyone

We had a wonderful trip to the Natural History Museum yesterday to visit Dr Paul Williams, world expert on bumblebee taxonomy, who showed us specimens of UK and Swedish Bombus subterraneus. There were six of us in total and this helped us prepare for our collection trip to Sweden at the end of April. Its been a mild winter over in Sweden so I am expecting the queens to emerge early this Spring as they did in 2011. This year volunteers Geoff Allen, Simon Springate, Nick Withers, Ian Gammans and Robert Jones will be joining me to collect the queens from the two transects shown in the maps below.

The project is also now on the social network pages of facebook The short-haired bumblebee reintroduction project and Twitter shbumblebeeproject (@nikkigammans) do become a follower and receive regular updates on the projects progress!

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.

Swedish transects

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:46:00 +0000

Hello everyone

The project is all set for the Swedish bee collecting trip and I thought everyone would be interested in where we will be going. These maps show the two transects in Skane, Sweden where in May we will begin collecting the queens.....
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Bumblebee events 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:16:00 +0000

Dear all

Here are a list of events for this summer. Please do contact the events for booking and more information. I hope to see you at some of the events!

15th April RSPB Dungeness Bumblebee ID course- FULLY BOOKED
6th June RSPB Dungeness walk and talk 2-4pm
9th June RSPB Dungeness walk and talk 2-4pm
21st June High Wealds AONB event to be arranged
24th June Maidstone Mote Park, stall 12-4pm
30th June Great Dixter Gardens Insect day, talk
7th July Folkestone Green Fair, stall
7th July Tunbridge Wells walk and talk event to be arranged
8th July Maidstone Mote Park walk and talk 2-4pm
21st July Kent Wildlife Trust, Tyland Barn bumblebee ID course
28th July RSPB Dungeness walk and talk 2-4pm
1st August RSPB Dungeness walk and talk 2-4pm
5th August Rye Harbour Nature Reserve walk and talk 2-4pm
11-12th August RSPB Dungeness kids fun weekend, stall and walks
18-19th August Kent Wildlife Trust Sevenoaks wildlife festival, stall
26-21st August Sandwich Bay wildlife festival, stall

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.

Kent Mammal Group

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:25:00 +0000

Hello everyone

Well the cold weather appears to be over now so hopefully we will start to see some more bumblebees out foraging soon. I had seen queens and workers of Bombus terrestris before this cold snap so I'm hoping to see some start to forage again soon.

I will be giving a talk on Friday the 24th to the Kent Mammal Group about the relationship between bumblebees and mammals. I will also talk about bumblebee declines, what we can do to help, an introduction to ID and the progress of the reintroduction project. Follow this link below to find out more details

http://www.kentmammalgroup.org.uk/

I am now busy planning events for the summer, bumblebee walk and talks and events. I will post these up soon..

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.

BBC 2; Bees, butterflies and blooms

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:30:00 +0000

Hello everyone

I hope you all got a chance to see the BBC 2 programme tonight, bees butterflies and blooms. If you missed it you can follow a link on the BBC homepage to a clip of the project's contribution to the show. You can also watch the full programme by following the link below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013pw23

Things are moving fast towards the summer and preparations are in place for the Swedish trip to collect the emerging B. subterraneus queens. It will be an exciting time and I will regularly update the blog to keep you all up to date on events.

I am also busily organising events for this summer. I am planning bumblebee walks and talk at Dungeness, Rye Harbour and else where. If you are free do come along and join me to look for our rare bees! I will be posting the dates soon

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.

Happy new year!

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:31:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:53:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:15:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:49:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:35:00 +0000

--
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

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:31:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:36:00 +0000

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.

RSPB Dungeness hay cut

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:34:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

We had an exciting week last Thursday as we continued we our red clover spreading. This year we used machinery so as to be able to cut more hay. Two mowers were used, one by RSPB and the other by Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and with a group of volunteers we raked the freshly cut green hay, put it into plastic bags and then took the hay to Rye Harbour and Little Cheyne Court windfarm to spread. We must have raked and collected well over 60 black bin bags full and many thanks to the RSPB and Rye harbour and their volunteers for helping with the day.

Green hay is a method used to disperse seeds. It must be cut and removed on the same day other wise the seeds can become very hot in the bags and this will reduce their viability. We hope this will become an annual event at the reserve and a great way to disperse locally native red clover and other wild flowers to other nature or conservation areas around our release site.
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Dungeness

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:55:00 +0000

Hello everyone

We are now approaching the end of the season but there are still many species to be seen. The red clover fields are still looking fantastic down at Dungeness and we have been recording B. humilis and B. muscorum queens. This Thursday I will be working with the RSPB Staff and volunteers to cut the hay meadows at Dungeness we will then rake and collect the cuttings and move the green hay to the other sites such as Rye harbour and Little Cheyne Court wind farm. This weekend I will be at the Kent Wildlife Trust event at their Sevenoaks reserve from 10-4 both Saturday and Sunday, do come along.....
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

Male Bombus ruderarius

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 18:12:00 +0000

Hello everyone

I walked a transect on Friday with Peter and Helen Amos at the new RSPB reserve at Lydden. We were very excited to see the rare BAP species B. ruderarius, the red shanked carder bee. We first saw a workers and then 3 males. This is very rare and in fact the first time I have seen 3 males in one day! We also saw a worker of B. mucorum, the moss carder bee. Some of this reserve will be set aside for wild flower hay meadows which will be perfect for these species.

I will be giving a talk and walk tomorrow at RSPB Dungeness from 2-4pm. Hope to see you there....
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.

ruderatus

noreply@blogger.com (Nikki Gammans) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:43:00 +0000

Hello everyone

We have had a very successful year with the ruderal or large garden bumblebee across Romney Marsh. Many workers and males have been spotted along Pett Level sea walls and in the north of Romney Marsh in Woodchurch. Alan has just started a transect with me along Pett Levels and we saw 5 workers and a male which was great to see, here's a picture of Alan and of one of the ruderal bumblebee workers.I also do a transect at Great Dixter gardens and we were lucky enough to collect a ruderal worker there on Monday. This is great news for the south of Kent and East Sussex where lots of habitat is currently being managed for bumblebees.

If you are free this Sunday we have a bumblebee walk and talk at RSPB Dungeness reserve from 2-4pm. We have recorded the shrill carder bee there this year, so do come down and help us look for it again....
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland,
number SC 011159.