The short-haired bumblebee reintroduction
The short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus), or "SubT", was once found across the south of the UK. Like many species, it was hit hard by the intensification of agriculture. It was last seen near Dungeness, Kent, in 1988. It was formally declared extinct in 2000.
Thanks to bee-friendly management schemes, land around Dungeness is once again starting to look promising and we hope to bring it back.
Now it might seem like a low priority to bring back an extinct species while others in the UK are struggling. However, by making sure that the reintroduction area is ready for the reintroduction (encouraging lots of wildflowers) we will be helping many other rare bumblebee species in the area. It will also be a nice 'flagship' news story that will raise awareness of bumblebee declines, encouraging more people to help.
This project is a partnership between the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Hymettus, Natural England and the RSPB. We aim to work with farmers, land managers and conservation bodies in Kent (the Dungeness area) in order to provide ideal habitats. Agri-environment schemes are helping to support farmers who manage grasslands to encourage wildflowers or who sow pollen and nectar mixes on their farms.
Once everything is in place here in the UK, queen short-haired bumblebees will be collected from Sweden and flown back to the UK. If all goes well we hope to release the first bees into the wild in June 2012.
You can follow the progress of the project on Nikki's blog, and if you'd like to support our habitat work you could consider making a donation to the BBCT habitats fund.
Further information about the project can be found on our partner's web pages:
