17 September 2018
This guest blog post has been written by Ron Rock, the Trust’s newest Local Volunteer Coordinator, whose longstanding involvement with the Trust has been invaluable. Ron discusses his summer experience with bees and the Trust, offering an interesting personal perspective on his work as a volunteer.
Well, that was the summer that was! Personally, I am glad it has now cooled off and we have finally had some rain. But back to March and the first queen bumblebees made an appearance as the weather warmed and Spring arrived. That was a false dawn if ever there was one as a couple of weeks later Mother Nature decided to dump a load of snow on us in Staffordshire together with freezing temperatures for good measure. Winter took its final spiteful swing as it beat a reluctant retreat which this time was for good. I was worried about the bumblebee queens but judging by the amount of worker bumbles seen in this year those fears were unfounded. We saw all of Staffordshire’s big seven social species and five species of cuckoo bee for good measure during the long hot summer in our little suburban garden. We also hosted two nests of tree bumblebees, one in the sparrow terrace and one in the roof space next to the pair of swifts who for the last five years have graced us with their scintillating and vibrant presence.
Another big bonus this year was the Red mason bee, our best ever year with these lovely little solitaries. I now have bee nesters (hotels) scattered around Stafford and a conservative estimate is well over 600 nesting tubes filled up and sealed. Later in the year though the leafcutter bees sadly didn’t seem so successful.
Away from the garden we attended quite a few events such as the Staffordshire Invertebrate Fair, the Stafford Countryside and Wildlife Day and a visit to the Bee Metropolis at Ellesmere in Cheshire. Throw in an identification training day, a book launch in Tamworth, a weekend at The Birmingham Honey Show a few Bee Safaris and it was quite a summer! Some of the best bits though were the BBCT stalls at the Malvern Spring Show and Countryfile Live where I met up with BBCT staff both old and new. Thank you as always to Richard, Jack, Nigel, Barnaby, Andy, Annie and Laura for making me so welcome. It is always a pleasure to renew acquaintances and meet the new staff members ?. One thing that has struck me (and is most gratifying) is the upsurge in interest and concern about our bees from members of the general public, it really is a growing trend and augurs well for the future of our favourite insects.
On a more leisurely note I must mention a couple of trips, one in Staffordshire and an all too brief visit to Somerset. Starting on home turf I paid a visit to Highgate Common with fellow volunteer Charlotte Dale. We went to survey the site for Red-shanked carder bees and sadly after potting up a goodly number of bees with red tails all we found were normal Red-tailed bumblebees. Red pollen baskets were not on show that day.
However, every cloud has a silver lining and what we did find was a nesting aggregation of Pantaloon bees, a really beautiful solitary bee and the only one of its genus found in the U.K. What was particularly charming was watching the bees conceal the entrances to their nesting burrows in the early afternoon. It was time to consult the bee bible a la’ Steven Falk. The answer was that these bees are strongly associated with yellow composites such as Cats-ear, Hawkbits and Ragworts, etc., which close their flowers early in the afternoon and so the bees retreat to their burrows. Or at least so it would seem. If you live in the Midlands then Highgate Common is a great place to visit.
Now, I have a confession to make, when it comes to steam engines I am a bit of an anorak. My lovely wife Jane is also an anorak but her interest is abbeys so when the opportunity arose for a weekend away we headed for Somerset. Accommodation within sight of the West Somerset Railway and about a mile from Cleeve Abbey was too good to resist. Our digs for the weekend were on the edge of a village called Old Cleeve and the first thing that struck me was the amount of Garden bumblebees on a type of Salvia known as hot lips (we have now added one to our collection of bee-friendly plants at home). In the evenings the same plant was literally alive with moths of all shapes and sizes. A trip along the West Somerset is like a trip back in time, friendly staff and stunningly beautiful country stations all of which have the most gorgeous flower beds which, you’ve guessed it, were covered in bumblebees. The railway is like a twenty miles long wildlife corridor. We got off at every station we could to take pictures of bumblebees feasting on plants like marjoram, lavender, antirrhinum and knapweeds to mention just a few. Sunday was the day for Jane to indulge herself with a visit to Cleeve Abbey, what a stunning place it is too with lots of bumblebees in the Abbey gardens, the purple loosestrife being particularly popular. A great weekend indeed!
As I write it is raining steadily in Stafford but some brave little Common carders are still beavering away on Devil’s-bit scabious and red clover. They are for some reason my favourite bumble bee but there again I always like the little brown jobs when out birdwatching. Just one more event this year and then Members Day in Cardiff, the perfect end to a wonderful bee filled Summer! With Autumn fast approaching it will soon be time to sort out the Red mason bees and build up a volunteer group in Staffordshire, no rest for the wicked as they say.
