Bumblebees in Scotland – progress and plans this year!
Katy Malone is the Conservation Projects Manager for Scotland, and she provides an overview of the amazing work this year.
I’d like to start right up in the north with partnership work in Shetland and Orkney. The ground breaking Species on the Edge project has enabled us to have unprecedented reach into the most far-flung corners of the country, funding support for bumblebee surveys, habitat work, advice to land managers and some really lovely people engagement work too. I’ve been working with partners RSPB to co-ordinate work for Great Yellow (Bombus distinguendus) and Moss carder bumblebee (Bombus muscorum) bumblebees in the northern isles. Last year, I helped them produce a bumblebee identification guide for the islands and the teams up there will be able to use it this year to continue engaging with land managers and volunteers.
Up on the far north coast of Caithness and Sutherland, the Species on the Edge project is led by partners Plantlife and they are also working with volunteers to plant kidney vetch grown from locally collected seed. This is not only wonderful spring forage for Great Yellow bumblebee queens in the springtime, but also supports another rare pollinator, the most northerly UK colonies of Small blue butterflies (Cupido minimis).
Credit: Great Yellow bumblebee enjoying a kidney vetch flower by David Wood
Across to the far west now, and the Species on the Edge team in the Outer Hebrides. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is the Area lead here, and we employ a team of four project staff – two project officers (one for Lewis and Harris, another for the Uists and Barra), a People Engagement Officer and a Community Engagement trainee. Here, we are working with SAC Consulting to help crofters manage their land using cattle to graze and reduce worming treatments but testing to see if treatment is actually needed (avoiding routine dosing). Traditional extensive crofting systems on the Outer Hebridean machair has been under threat because of the decline in the number of active crofters. Cattle grazing is best for biodiversity, but managing cattle is harder work than using sheep, so as the number of crofters dwindle, the use of sheep increases. We’ve purchased a set of no-fence collars to help crofters manage cattle much more easily. Win for the crofters, win for biodiversity on the machair! Take a look at the Species on the Edge Instagram post for more.
Credit: CEO Gill Perkins giving a talk to gin tasting participants at the North Uist distillery in 2024 by Katy Malone
Our People Engagement Officer co-ordinated the 2025 Outer Hebrides Wildlife Festival, which ran from 21-28 June, with the Fringe Festival running throughout July.
As I write, I’m heading out on a ferry from Oban to Barra to help out with a few events. The Festival is bigger and better than ever before, with over 90 events right across the islands, including several bee-themed events. My favourite would have to be a collaboration between us and the North Uist distillery titled “Thank the Bees for your G&Ts” – as part of their standard tour of the gin distillery and tasking event, I’ll be providing a talk about bumblebees and other pollinators and their important role in helping to create some of the key botanicals that go into flavouring the gin.
Back on the mainland of Scotland, Annie, our Skills for Bees: Scotland Project Officer, has made great strides in recruiting, training and mentoring volunteer surveyors to find and record nationally rare bumblebees in the Cairngorms. The target species here are the Bilberry (or Blaeberry) bumblebee (Bombus monticola), Broken-belted bumblebee (Bombus soroeensis), and Moss carder bumblebee (Bombus muscorum). Annie will soon ‘bee’ moving on to even more rare invertebrate work in the Cairngorms in a new role with the RSPB. We’re sure Annie will continue to hold a special place for bumblebees in her heart, and we wish her well!
