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Spring is on its way!!

Dear all
 
You have probably seen over the last couple of weeks queen bumblebees starting to emerge from hibernation! The queens are generally quite big about 1/3 bigger than the workers. They will be foraging for the first two weeks and then begin to lay their eggs which will develop into workers. Once the workers begin to forage the queen then remains in the nest.
 
Here's a couple of emerging queen pictures. The first is the common carder bumblebee Bombus pascorum, which was taken By Barry Yates at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and the second is a very exciting bumblebee indeed! This is a bumblebee which hasn't been seen for over twenty years in and around the Dungeness/Romney Marsh area. It is a Bombus ruderarius queen. This queen is different from the common red tailed bumblebee because it has red hairs on the hind legs, is smaller and much much rarer! This is a very exciting find and many thanks to Chris Bentley at Rye Harbour Nature reserve for spotting it and sending the pictures in.
 
Keep a look out in your garden for more queens emerging over the next few months!!
 
Till next time..................................

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Hibernating queens

Dear all
 
The queens are now in hibernation. They have been placed into matchboxes and now are being kept cool in an incubator. Prior to this the queens were mated with males form different colonies to increase their genetic diversity. We let the queens mate for about three days and some were even seen to mate more than once! Once the queens start to try and bury themselves we know it is time for their hibernation to begin. These queens will be in hibernation for a few months and then flown back to the UK for their release.
 
Before the queens come back we will be sending back dead males, workers and original queens for a complete disease analysis screening. This will be done by world bumblebee disease expert Dr Mark Brown. Of course the last thing we want to do when we reintroduce these queens is to bring any new diseases with them. These specimens will be screened and when given the all clear we will begin the process of sending the queens over.
 
So fingers crossed all going well we shall see the short-haired bumblebee return to our shores for the first time in 22 years!!
 
Keep watching for more information..................

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Mated queens

Dear all
 
News from New Zealand the queens are now all mated and have been put into hibernation. So its an exciting time for the project entering the next stage. We have quite a small number of queens for this years release. However, we are now planning for this November's collection and rearing in New Zealand. We hope this will be the first of many releases for the next few years.
 
A big thank goes to Rosemary for all her hard work and patience in rearing subt. The queens will now be kept in hibernation until the end of May when they will be flown back to the UK for their release. This release will mean the first time this bee species has been seen in the UK for 22 years!!
 
Meanwhile back in the UK I have been doing some school visits. Two weeks ago it was the British Science Associations, national science and engineering week. As part of this I visited three schools, one secondary and two primary's to talk about the conservation and importance of bumblebees and a bit about the project. Many thanks to the schools who invited me, it was great fun and really good to see the pupils engaging about conservation and the work that were doing.
 
So watch this space for more news about the bees!!
 
Till next time...............

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6 queens

Dear all
 
We have six queens now. They have hatched from two colonies queen 48 and queen 45. We have also had many males hatch. So this week over in New Zealand they will be mating the queens and putting them into hibernation. Then they will be flown back to the UK at the end of May ready for release in June. So its been tricky rearing the bees and a very slow process. However, this has taught us a lot about subt and its requirements and will help us for our continuing collection and rearing of the queens. It is hard to say whether any more queens will be produced. The original queens are getting old and its getting late in the season but Rosemary will keep a watchful eye.
 
Meanwhile back in the UK I am busy planning the spring and summer events. I shall post the event listing very soon. This last week I meet with a couple of farmers to discuss coverting some of their land into good bumblebee habitat. Over the next few weeks I will be doing some school visits where I will be teaching primary school children about bumblebee conservation!
 
Keep visiting for how our breeding queens get on.......
 
 

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We three queens!!

Dear all
 
We have now received reports that we have three queens hatched, all from queen 61. Unfortunately this queen died but because she had already laid queen larvae and pupae they have been cared for by the workers of that colony. We hope that still more will come through from this nest. Many of the subt colonies are now outside foraging on red clover, this is hoped will give the colonies a further push for development. Fresh, good quality pollen is needed by this bee species and by providing this we hope we are giving them the best chance of developing new healthy queens.
 
I will also be giving a talk down at RSPB Dungeness on Sunday the 13th March from 3-4pm, do come along if you can make it.
 
Till next time....

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First subt queen to hatch

Dear all

Here is the picture of our first subt queen to hatch. She came from queen 61! She's looking quite pale in these photo's as she has just emerged but will darken over the next few days. We are incredibility pleased to see her and know we are doing something right with subt's rearing. Unfortunately we have had a couple of set backs. Queen 61 died a few days ago, thankfully she has laid some queen eggs, her workers are now looking after the egg/larvae/pupae so we are confident some will hatch out. It's quite unusual for a queen to die once she has started a colony- subt are testing us at every opportunity but we have made significant progress and are hopeful for the future. We knew the bees would be hard to breed and we have 21 queens remaining (which is excellent) all in different stages of progress. Obviously I am hoping for enough queens for a release this summer.

Till next time................
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