About bumblebees
The plight of the bumblebee - BBCT's Conservation Officer for England and Wales (Dr. Pippa Rayner) explains all about bumblebees, their amazing lives and what we can all do to help them |
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Saving the bumblebee - a video by independent filmmaker Jamie-Lee Loughlin Saving the Bumblebee from Jamie-Lee Loughlin on Vimeo. |
Bumblebees are endearing and familiar insects. The sound of bees buzzing from flower to flower is part of a summer’s day - the "sound of summer". Sadly, changes to farming have not been kind to our bumblebees. In the last 70 years two species have become extinct and others have declined dramatically. Further extinctions are more-or-less inevitable unless we act quickly to help them.
The reason for these declines is simple. Bees feed on pollen and nectar which they collect from flowers, and there are now far fewer flowers in the countryside. Hedges have been removed and marshes drained. Traditionally managed flower-rich grasslands (hay meadows and chalk downland) have been almost entirely swept away, replaced by silage and cereal fields. Over 97% of flower-rich meadows have been lost from the UK!
Imagine a different future, in which our towns and countryside are rich in colourful wildflowers and teeming with bees, other beneficial insects and a diversity of wildlife for everyone to enjoy...
Please help us to turn this vision into a reality by joining today and supporting our conservation work.
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Gardens now provide a valuable flower-rich oasis in a bleak landscape. They are now the main stronghold for some bumblebee species. Depending on where you live, and what flowers you grow, you may see up to a dozen bumblebee species in your garden. Keep an eye out in your garden or park and you'll see several differently pattered types. In fact six or seven species can be found in almost any garden. If the right sorts of plants are grown this total can be doubled.
Learn more about how you can help...
Left -several different species enjoying cardoon (S. Jenkins)
The Bumblebee Lifecycle
Bumblebees, honeybees, wasps and ants are all social insects: they live in a colony with a queen and her daughters (the workers).
Bumblebees have an annual lifecycle. New nests are started each spring by queens. Queen bumblebees are very large, and from February onwards you will see them feeding on flowers like willow catkins, bluebells and lungwort. You might see them flying low over the ground searching for somewhere to start their nests. Some species prefer to nest underground in empty mouse holes, while others nest just above the ground in dense grass or piles of leaves.
Once the queen has found somewhere to nest, she collects lots of pollen and nectar and then lays her first batch of eggs. She incubates a bit like a bird, sitting on them and 'shivering' her muscles to produce warmth.
When the eggs hatch the white grubs eat pollen and nectar, grow rapidly, and then form pupae (like the chrysalises made by butterflies). A few days later the first workers hatch from their pupae and begin helping their mother, expanding the nest and gathering food.
By mid-summer the nests of some species can contain more than 400 worker bees. At this point the queen starts laying both male and female eggs. The females are fed extra food and become future queens. Both males and new queens leave the nest to mate, and the new queens burrow into the ground to hibernate until the following spring. The males, workers, and the old queen die off in the autumn, leaving the nest to decay.
Above right - inside a bumblebee's nest.
Cuckoo Bumblebees
In the UK there are 6 species of cuckoo bumblebees. Many many years ago, 'cuckoos' used to be just like other bumblebees, but they have evolved to be parasitites instead. The females are especially powerful, and force their way into the nests of their bumblebee hosts. They kill or evict the queen and take over her workers as their own, using them to rear their own offspring. Cuckoo bumblebees do not produce workers of their own. Each cuckoo species tends to attack a particular species of bumblebee, so for example the southern cuckoo bumblebee targets buff-tailed bumblebee nests.
Fascinating facts about bumblebees
Want to know more? There are so many fascinating facts about bumblebees - far too much to fit on the website. Did you know that bumblebees have smelly feet? Are bumblebees left-handed or right-handed? Why do inbred bumblebees turn male? Why do workers turn on their mother and murder her? Where do bumblebees mate? How far can a bumblebee fly? Join the Trust today, support our vital conservation work and learn more about these fascinating creatures...
