6 October 2023

By Darryl Cox, Senior Science & Policy Officer 

On Wednesday 27 September, the latest State of Nature report was released. Alarmingly, it shows that one in six species in the UK are at risk of extinction. For pollinators, the picture is pessimistic – they’ve declined by 18% since 1970. The report boils down to the bad news – nature is in a terrible state, and the good news – we know how to turn it around and we have evidence to show what works. But this is a nature crisis, so we need to get our skates on. 

Cue, Chris Packham, TV presenter and life-long conservationist, turned activist, who in the weeks leading up to State of Nature being published worked with his small team to rally the environmental and wildlife conservation sector to make a stand for nature outside the offices of the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs. The Restore Nature Now demonstration took place in London on Thursday 28 September, with other smaller protests outside regional offices around the country. Its purpose was to bring people together to speak up for nature and to demand the government takes urgent and meaningful action to restore nature. No more rolling back on the laws that protect nature, no more rolling back on promises to meet our net zero commitments. 

For the first time in the Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s history, we joined forces with the 40+ organisations and hundreds of individuals who gathered to protest in London. It was a legal and peaceful protest, filled with ordinary people who care about what is happening to our natural world, people who have had enough of things not going in the right direction and people who are rightly worried for the future. To be there alongside them, to hear the stories, the hopes, the fears, the demands, and the visions for a better future, was a humbling experience. My colleagues and I spent our time talking to people about the bumblebee manifesto, which aims to highlight the key changes we need to see to get bumblebees and other pollinators thriving again. I also had the honour to take to the stand to speak up for bumblebees and promote a message of hope – if you’re interested, you can catch what I imagine the bumblebees would have liked to have said in the video below.  

At the end of the protest, Chris Packham took to the stand. He applauded the environmental sector for coming together to stand up for nature but warned that more action may be necessary. For those who may be confused by the title of his recent TV programme, he wasn’t talking about breaking the law – no paint, no powder, no glue. He was talking about the legal right to peacefully protest, and the fact nature needs people now more than ever: “Nature doesn’t have a voice, but we do. Nature can’t act, but we must.” 

 If all of that has you feeling worried for the future and angry about the lack of progress to help nature from our governments, you’re not alone. It’s said that action can be one of the best remedies for those experiencing eco-anxiety, especially collective action. Here are four things you can do in this moment to stand up for nature: 

• Read and share the Manifesto for Bumblebees, especially with your elected representatives and local candidates. Be sure to add #BumblebeeManifesto on any social media. 
• Get involved with the Nature Can’t Wait campaign which has toolkits and resources to help you engage with your elected representatives about nature and the urgent actions needed to restore it. 
• Talk to your friends, family, colleagues, classmates, neighbours, bus-drivers, anyone who will listen, about how wonderful and important nature is and how much it needs people to stand up for it, now more than ever.

If you are looking for simple actions to help bumblebees in your green space or community, visit our Bee the Change page for simple, quick mirco actions.

2 November 2023

In partnership with the London Borough of Newham, we have created a Wild Bee Garden to benefit local wild pollinators and the local community. Senior Conservation Officer Bex Cartwright explains how this thriving habitat was created.

Back in January 2023, we were approached by the Parks and Green Spaces team at Newham Council, inviting us to help with the creation of a feature garden to showcase wild bees. The garden was one of four feature areas to be created as part of a wider project to create a pollinator trail along the length of Newham Greenway, a public footpath and cycleway which extends 7km from Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets to Royal London Docks. The Greenway is a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC). We were delighted to be part of the project!

The plot for the wild bee garden is approximately 10 x 10m and started out as an area of rough grass and bramble with few flowers. The plot is connected by grassland and flowering trees and scrub that joins a local community orchard. We wanted to add as many features for wild bees as possible to the garden including nesting habitat alongside abundant sources of pollen and nectar that would provide food for a range of wild bees throughout the year.

The final design and planting includes a native mixed species hedgerow, flowering shrubs such as flowering currant and honeysuckle. A herbaceous border and ‘brownfield’ style planting where drought-tolerant plants have been planted and seeded into recycled, crushed aggregate material. A perennial wildflower meadow area is also in development which complements the meadow species that run the length of the 7km greenway. We have also included specimen trees such as a pussy willow and wildflowers such as primroses to provide spring forage. The aggregate mounds also act as nesting habitat for ground-nesting bees and wooden totems have been installed to provide homes for cavity nesting bees. The hedgerow base, meadow and surrounding grasslands will provide nesting sites for bumblebees.

A wonderful local community artist who is also a London National Park City Ranger designed a series of engaging interpretation panels for the garden which illustrate a range of solitary bees and bumblebees and explain their lifecycles as well as their nesting and feeding needs.

Surveys of the garden have taken place throughout the process and the bees were very quick to start using the new range of resources provided! Exciting sightings include species of bumblebee including the scarce Brown-banded carder bumblebee (Bombus humilis) and solitary bees such as the Black mining bee and Wool carder bee.

The Greenway Pollinator Trail and Wild Bee Garden were generously funded by the Mayor of London’s Rewild London Fund.

Thanks to Anna Yusuf and the Newham Council Parks and Green Spaces Grounds Maintenance team who put in all of the hard work landscaping and planting the garden and invited us to be part of this project. Thanks also to Trust volunteer George for his design and drawing skills, and community artist Matt Ponting for the amazing interpretation work.

You can read more about the Newham Greenway Pollinator Trail Project.

24 November 2023

Written by Hugo Gault

When I started my traineeship at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in July this year, I was pleased to see that the Trust had several other traineeships currently ongoing and had supported trainee placements in the past: I felt that my placement here was in experienced hands. Now, three months in, I know that assessment was accurate, and as the three-month mark coincided perfectly with the end of the field season, I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of the experiences of myself and other trainees at the Trust.

My trainee placement is through New to Nature – a programme offering employment mentorship and paid experience in new, full-time, year-long work placements in the environmental sector, with the aim of attracting diverse talent from communities currently underrepresented in environmental roles. And “new to nature” I certainly am! I have come into this work with no experience or education in the green/environmental sector, excepting some volunteering at my local waste reduction initiative. Aydan Khan, a fellow New to Nature placement at the Trust, started with the programme a few months before me, having come from working in the green infrastructure sector, where he built green roofs in Brighton and London. He tells me that after achieving a degree in biology, he had a keen interest in wildlife conservation. Once deciding that construction wasn’t for him, he left that sector and landed what he refers to as his best job yet: being a Bee Connected trainee at the Trust.

Aydan works in practical conservation, through the Bee Connected project, a landscape scale restoration ecology project, which aims to improve and create habitats for bumblebees with a focus on four of the UK’s rarest species, the Brown-banded carder bumblebee, Moss carder bumblebee, Red-shanked bumblebee and the Ruderal bumblebee. His role as a trainee involves bumblebee surveying, wildflower surveys, public outreach, and volunteer engagement and recruitment.

New to Nature is not the only programme supporting trainee placement roles. Heather Borland works as an ecologist and tour guide for Highland Titles – a family business that runs nature reserves by selling “souvenir” plots of land. Highland Titles is working collaboratively with the Trust, and this summer, Heather started a placement with us on our Great Yellow Bumblebee: On the Verge project in Caithness, where she has been surveying road verges for flowering plant diversity and density.

I am based at the Trust’s Stirling office, and I have two roles. I split my weeks between being a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) assistant and supporting the running of BeeWalk, our citizen science biological recording project. Overall, my work involves a lot of data handling, monitoring, and visualisation, and I have also been doing some work to improve BeeWalk’s volunteer resources. Being GIS trainee has allowed me to engage with scientific recording across a range of the Trust’s projects, allowing me to have insight into the Trust’s conservation work on a broad scale. Like me, Emma Bungay, another trainee has a more desk-based role, working on the Bee Inspired – Walsall project, which aims to provide volunteering opportunities to engage people with nature and bumblebees. The project works to accommodate access to nature for a diverse community by engaging with people in deprived areas. Emma tells me that the practical experience she gained while achieving a Level 2 Diploma in Work-based Environmental Conservation, through a traineeship with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, really helped to prepare her for a more community facing role at the Trust. 

Traineeships are rich learning opportunities, and I have already gained a wealth of knowledge: almost everything I’m doing is new, so I’m learning all the time! I’ve been supported in my development by highly knowledgeable staff to make a lot of progress with learning about bumblebee identification and ecology, how to use mapping software, and scientific data handling, none of which I had done before I started in this role. Currently, I am also branching out into some communication and engagement elements within my role. Aydan tells me, “This traineeship has given me the opportunity to develop my confidence and self-esteem within the workplace. It’s provided a safe environment to explore, experiment, make mistakes, and most importantly learn and grow. Working closely with some of the top bumblebee experts in the UK has provided quality insight; I have learnt bumblebee identification skills, pollinator ecology, wildflower meadow restoration amongst all that goes into public engagement and managing volunteers.” Heather shares that her placement enabled her to explore a part of Scotland that’s new to her, as well as teaching her a lot about identifying different plant and bumblebee species. 

I hope it’s evident that we are all really enjoying our placements with the Trust. A highlight for me is getting to reconnect with science after some time of having my work and education more focused on humanities. Connecting to nature through work has been hugely positive for me, I find joy in all the new things I am learning about bumblebees. I am working with a great team of people and being able to learn from them makes me exited to come into work every day. Heather tells me, “Being able to do something a bit different is always valuable and has brought me extra confidence in my abilities to conduct surveys and work alone out in the field safely. The best part was finally seeing a Great Yellow bumblebee which I saw 14 of in one day!!” Emma adds, “I’m really enjoying my experience with the Trust, everyone is so welcoming and it’s a lovely community to be a part of!” Aydan shares that the entire year has been invaluable, but if he had to pinpoint one highlight, “It would be the incredible and dedicated community I had the privilege to work with, all united by our shared goal of protecting and conserving bumblebees. I can’t remember a day at work when I wasn’t smiling.”

As I still have some time before the end of my traineeship, I was curious to ask my fellow trainees what possibilities their roles have opened to them for the future. Aydan answers that his traineeship has given him the skill set to apply and follow a career in ecology and the conservation sector. There’s the possibility of continuing his employment with the Trust, but he also feels confident in finding work with other charity NGOs within the UK. Similarly, Heather tells me “I’m nearing the end of my placement and although there’s nothing new on the horizon yet, I’m confident this training will bring new opportunities for me in the future, and I can’t wait!”

Being able to do a traineeship with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust is something I am very fortunate to be able to experience. I have found that even though we have a staff team that spreads from the Outer Hebrides to Cornwall, everyone – across levels and different teams – has readily welcomed me. Though I don’t currently know what I’ll end up doing when my traineeship ends, I will be glad to have spent this time as part of the team here, working towards conserving bumblebees.

In spring, when meadows and grasslands are yet to fully flower, bumblebees will seek out flowering trees for their pollen. One of our Project Officers tells us more about the importance of flowering trees in spring.

Bumblebees can be pretty easy to watch. Busily feeding on a flower in a park or garden, we can get a close look at their furry bodies, big eyes and whirring wings. But it’s common to hear bumblebees without seeing them, particularly as they feed on some of their favourite spring forage, metres overhead in the branches of trees.

Flowering trees

When thinking of a bumblebee’s favourite plants, trees rarely come to mind. But some of our flowering trees can be popular dishes on the bumblebee menu early in the year.

Some of our hedgerow favourites are among these flowering trees. If they are managed well and not cut every year, they can provide for a multitude of pollinators, including bumblebees:

• The beautiful white flowers of blackthorn can transform a dense, spiny hedge into a gleaming cloud of blossom in early spring
• Hawthorn follows later, once it has unfurled some leaves alongside its flowers
• Field maple and sycamore also attract lots of bumblebees with their sweet nectar

Goat willow

As spring unfolds, goat willow (also known as pussy willow) is one of the top providers of nectar and pollen for bumblebees. Growing more than ten metres high, this tree can spread its branches wide, creating a candelabra of catkins. Starting as soft, furry buds of silver, the catkins have evolved to keep the flowers inside to protect them from harsh winter weather. The warmth of spring encourages them to burst open, revealing their gender.

Trees with golden, fluffy catkins are male. They hold pollen-dusted stamens and a little bit of nectar. The female trees hold a heart-shaped stigma atop a sweet supply of nectar. They will be buzzing with bumblebees on a fine spring day.

Willows, along with oak trees, also support some of the highest diversity of invertebrate, meaning they are essential to encourage in the landscape to support our wildlife.

Queen bumblebees in spring

Spring is a crucial time of year for queen bumblebees. They need to refuel on sugary nectar to top up their energy levels and find protein-rich pollen. This pollen is important to help the queen’s ovaries to develop so she is ready for laying eggs. A queen needs to collect enough pollen for herself and to make a food-store for the next generation of young bumblebees.

Cosy and warm in her new nest, the queen lays her eggs on top of a ball of pollen and broods them to keep them warm – as warm as 25°C. When the eggs hatch, the larvae, which resemble small grubs, feasts on the pollen for ten to twenty days. Afterwards, they spin a cocoon and pupate, like a butterfly.

The fully formed adult bumblebees emerge after two weeks. They help the queen raise the next batch of eggs until the nest reaches a few hundred workers by summer.

Why flowering trees are important in spring

Bumblebee species like the Buff-tailed (Bombus terrestris), White-tailed (Bombus lucorum) and Early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) have the highest number of queens active in spring. It is often too early in the season for our meadows and grasslands to have many flowers, so flowering trees have an important role to play from March to May.

Apples, cherries, pears and plums provide beautiful blossoms beloved by bumblebees. There are an array of varieties in bloom throughout the spring. Many different species of solitary bee, including Ashy mining bees and Red mason bees, are also important pollinators of fruit trees.

How you can help

If you have space, why not help the bumblebees in your local area by planting a fruit tree and encouraging your friends and neighbours to do the same? If you have a small garden or patio, it is possible to buy dwarf varieties that are happy in a pot and will still produce big, juicy fruits to feed your local bumblebees.

24 May 2023

Our Skills for Bees: Scotland Project Officer, Annie Ives, featured as a guest on the Ramblin’ Rangers podcast, the nature-based segment on Keith Community Radio in Moray, Scotland. Annie provides a round up for anyone who didn’t catch her online!

“Awake, awake, you drowsy sleeper!”

Over the past few weeks, you might have noticed the return of a fuzzy friend. Queen bumblebees, which could have spent up to nine months hibernating, are awakening from their soil or leaf litter shelters, and flying out in search of early nectar-rich flowers to feast on and comfortable spaces to set up their nests.

In Scotland, we actually have 20 different species of bumblebee, or Foggie bummers as they are sometimes called in North-East Scotland. Many of our different species can be distinguished with the help of their different brightly coloured tails or stripe patterns.

At this time of year, as big, bright queens emerge from hibernation, early flowers such as crocuses and catkins were a vital sources of food. Next time you pass a willow tree, bursting with luminous yellow catkins, take a few minutes just to quietly sit underneath the boughs – as I did recently under the willow tree at the Glenlivet Estate Visitor Centre. You’ll be amazed at how the whole tree hums with the sound of busy bumblebees, feeding on the flowers and building themselves back up ready to start their nest. If you take a closer look, you’ll begin to notice their bright white, sandy or orange tails bobbing about as they move from flower to flower.

“Awake, awake, from your peaty soil chamber. The bilbr’y flower for your feasting.”

Looking forward over the next couple of months, we’ll be waiting with anticipation for the blaeberries to bloom. Depending on where you are from, you may have heard them called European blueberries, bilberries, whortleberries, whinberries, or Myrtle berries, but where-ever you are, the unassuming flowers of the blaeberry bush signal that spring has well and truly sprung. Later in the summer, the soft, sweet berries make a tasty treat for hillwalkers and many of us will have fond childhood memories of foraging blaeberries in abundance to make jams, tarts and pies – perhaps following the rule ‘one for me, one for the pot’. And we aren’t the only ones to enjoy the juicy, vitamin-packed crop – blaeberries are an important food source for some of our favourite Scottish creatures, from pine martens to capercaillies.

But for our beloved blaeberries to form, we rely on a wild and often overlooked little helper, doing her job now – in the spring. Over the next month or two, as the blaeberry plants bloom, she will visit many of those delicate, pink bell-shaped flowers which nod along as the spring breeze drifts through the pine forest understory and moorland edge. I’m talking, of course, about a humble bumblebee, moving pollen between the flowers, allowing them to reproduce, creating fruits and seeds in a process called pollination.

There is a particular species of bumblebee which is important for keeping our tummies filled with blaeberries. Its scientific name is Bombus monticola, which translates roughly to the mountaineer or highlander bumblebee. It’s more commonly known as the Blaeberry bumblebee in Scotland (and Bilberry bumblebee elsewhere) because of its association with higher altitude blaeberry-rich moorland.

The song I chose for the Ramblin’ Rangers podcast is a wonderful celebration of the Blaeberry bumblebee, written and performed by the award-winning folk artist Bella Hardy. The Blaeberry bumblebee has a very distinctive appearance, with two yellow stripes and a bright tail as described in Bella’s evocative lyric ‘Fetch that tail orange-red, as a candle bright flying, your light dispels gloomy mornings’. In fact, that fiery red tail covers more than half of the Blaeberry bumblebee’s abdomen and makes it distinctive from other bumblebee species with much smaller red tails. Although Bella is based in the Peak District in England – a more southern part of the Blaeberry bumblebee’s range, her gentle call for our “Little Queen of the Mountain” is just as – if not more – relevant here in Scotland, where we are lucky to have strongholds for this species in upland spaces like the Cairngorms.

“Bring the mountain alive, little bee.”

The Blaeberry bumblebee is one of four bumblebee species on the Scottish Biodiversity List – meaning that it is a conservation priority for the Scottish government. It was added to the list because of concerns that sightings have declined by more than a quarter over a 25-year period. Monitoring bumblebees and documenting their declines is fundamental to their conservation. If we don’t know which bumblebees are where, and how many – how can we protect them?

My work with the Trust on Skills for Bees: Scotland involves supporting volunteers in the Cairngorms National Park to look out for and look after bumblebees – building skills in identification and surveying. I am helping local people contribute to Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s citizen science program, BeeWalk – where volunteers walk a fixed route, monthly between March & October, counting and identify the bumblebees they see and then submitting their sightings to us. This helps us to measure how bumblebees are managing overall. We have new survey routes being set up throughout the Cairngorms National Park, including on the Glenlivet Estate and Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve, and I’d love to hear from anyone who is interested in getting involved. Over the next two years, we will also be carrying out targeted surveys to fill in some of the data gaps and find out more about how Blaeberry bumblebees and two other rare local species, are faring in this part of the world.

Sadly, we are seeing a decline in numbers for many bumblebee species, across the UK and across the globe. Habitat loss is a main driver – bumblebees can only get the nutrients they need from flowers, and in the UK, we have lost over 97% of our wildflower-rich hay meadow habitat since the 1930s. Sweeping changes in our landscape, from intensive farming to urbanisation, mean there are fewer suitable nesting spaces and fewer flowers to feed our bumblebees. And there are other threats too – bumblebees are thought to have evolved in the Tibetan plateau of the Himalaya, millions of years ago, they are large, hairy and well-adapted to the cooler, temperate climates so global warming through climate change is likely to increase the pressure on our cold-loving insects. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent – flooding can destroy underground bumblebee nests, while heatwaves and droughts desiccate the flowers they rely on for food. Bumblebees have natural parasites such as nematode worms, and have plenty of natural predators too, from great-tits and robins to badgers and foxes. They’ve evolved alongside these threats which aren’t thought to be a major cause of declines, but in combination with the other pressures that bumblebees face, they can have an effect. Research also shows that beekeeping could be having a detrimental effect on wild pollinators too, as diseases and viruses can and are jumping from domesticated honeybee hives into wild bumblebee populations, passed from bee to bee when they visit the same flowers.

The Trust works to reverse bumblebee declines through scientific research and monitoring, practical habitat work, education and engagement. We want to help you understand what you can do to support bumblebees – and trust me, everyone can do something! From helping out with our local surveys in the Cairngorms, to planting a pot of lavender on your doorstep or window box, to encouraging your council to reduce pesticide use, fundraising or just sharing our bumblebee story with your friends and family. Some of the best ways to help bumblebees are also the easiest! Leave the lawnmower in the shed and let your dandelions grow! Soon we will hear …

“an anthem of buzzing, to herald the summer in.”

If you have time you can listen to the full podcast.

Mavis King is 90 years old and has been a Trust Supportumblebee Ambassador for 20 years. We recently interviewed her at her local church, where she was running a bumblebee event.

Q: How long have you been a Bumblebee Ambassador for the Bumblebee Conseer and Brvation Trust?

A: I should think probably 20 years by now. I first watched little boys stamping on something under a tree … I went over to investigate, and they were stamping on bumblebees! That started it all, well and truly.

I started by writing to schools around the rural district. I would make enquiries and then write to the Head Teacher and say would they allow me to provide them with Trust paperwork. I liaised all the time of course with Gill Perkins, the current CEO, and the Trust CEO before her, and bit by bit it just became a habit for me to do that.

When my own great grandchildren started school, it was a good contact to have a child in the school, and then make a point to the Head Teacher. So it just, as I said, became a habit to do that.

Q: What things have you done over the years in this supporter role?

A: I’ve done lots of liasing with Gill and other Trust staff members over the years. Education is the most important area in my opinion. Over the past 20 years or so I’ve concentrated on children and education. I’ve read that there’s now an education programme aimed at juniors, but I’d like it lower than that, because those children I’ve seen stamping on bumblebees were primary school age. That really sparked me with such distress.

You’ve got to start younger at primary school. It’s a lovely juniors programme and getting this education into schools is great. But all my experience has been with primary schools. So really it’s got to start, in my view, as young as possible. It rubs off on the younger ones, the older ones, it even rubs off on the parents too.

Q: What is it that you love about bumblebees in particular – a favourite species perhaps?

A: I don’t think that I do have a favourite, actually. I think they’re all absolutely wonderful! I think what’s so amazing is some of the photography in the Buzzword membership magazine is out of this world, such beautiful photographs. How the photographer has got the whole face shape and the eyes, it’s almost as if you can see the brain of these creatures with some of the photography now.

But no, as far as I’m concerned, they’re all equally special and important pollinators. I’ve kept all my back issues of Buzzword. The lowering of their numbers, how unfortunately some of the species is so low now, it’s terrible – but we can all do something to help.

Q: Lastly, what do you enjoy the most about being a Bumblebee Ambassador for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust?

A: I believe that we’ve got to really focus on the education of children, truthfully. Over the whole country we are all in need of educating people better. I can only approach local schools if I can have a connection with them. A school in Beckley was through a lady who taught me to use a computer. Her niece and nephew are in that school, so that made the connection for me. I was in hospital nearly all of last year, so I never used that connection yet, but I’ve still got it, it’s still there, and I’ve still got my pack of information. So that’s what I do, I pop in and meet with the Head Teacher and offer information.

The main thing I like to offer them is the Bumblebee Conservation Trust ID poster. I think that is ideal as young children see the shape of the bumblebee and they know what it is. They’re too young to really understand all the rest of the necessities of bumblebees really, but they’re big and bright and enticing enough images that I’m sure do click.

I’ve got my two great grandchildren and they were two of the first in this group that was set up. (They’re both in junior school now, so it was some years ago). But they were absolutely thrilled to see their picture Buzzword and pass it round and show their teacher. That’s what we want – as much of that as possible!

In my little flat, halfway down the stairs, I’ve got the Bumblebee Conservation Trust ID poster. Last week, I had a workman over to fix a blind. He said, “I’ve learned a lot today. I know all about bumblebees now!” He’d been up and down the stairs for tools and things so many times and had seen the poster. And that’s not the first time!

Several times I’ve had workmen over and they’re doing something. As they go down the stairs, they see the poster there – we need a lot more of that. People just notice it and it goes in a little bit, just one particular bumblebee species or a fact about them. It’s a drip, drip, drip situation. Especially, as far as children are concerned, if you can get them to care and understand. Be it bumblebees among other things of course, but bumblebees particularly at the moment because we desperately need them.

By Miranda Shephard, Information Officer

There are around one million known species of insect, and probably quite a few more waiting to be discovered and named! This week it’s time to celebrate them during National Insect Week 2023, so we thought we would take a closer look at our favourite type of insect – the bumblebee! And more specifically, the beautiful carder bumblebees.

Five out of our twenty-four UK bumblebee species are given the name carder bumblebee. This is due to the similarity between the carding process used by people to separate and arrange the fibres of materials, such as wool and cotton, and the way in which these bumblebees arrange nesting material over and around their nests. All five carder bumblebee species tend to nest above ground, among tussocky grass or other dry patches of long vegetation, where they use their legs and mandibles to comb and coax vegetation into a protective insulating layer.

Red-shanked carder bumblebee

The most distinctive carder bumblebee is the Red-shanked carder bumblebee (Bombus ruderarius) which, at first glance, could be mistaken for the more common Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). However, the clue is in the name as the Red-shanked carder bumblebee does indeed have red hairs on its legs. They are also a bit fluffier and their red tail is more orange than red compared to the Red-tailed bumblebee. This carder bumblebee is quite rare but, if you’re in south and central England, Wales or the Inner Hebrides, it’s always worth keeping an eye out for red hairs on legs.

Shrill carder bumblebee

The carder bumblebee group includes one of our rarest bumblebees, the Shrill carder bumblebee (Bombus sylvarum). Named for its high-pitched buzz, this species is only found in five scattered populations across the south of England and Wales. Usually only seen from May to September, the key features to look out for are the black band between pale straw coloured hair on the thorax and a ginger orange tail at the end of more straw coloured hair on the abdomen.

Common carder bumblebee

Next up are three (one common and two rare) ginger brown carder bumblebees, which can sometimes be confused with each other. Let’s start with the one that many people will be most familiar with.

The Common carder bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum), as their name suggests, is one of our Big Eight common and widespread species. Often found in gardens and across the countryside, this ginger brown bumblebee can be seen from March all the way through to October in many areas. This is a variable species with both very pale blonde and much darker haired individuals. A key feature is the presence of black hairs which, even in the very palest individuals, will be present somewhere on the thorax or abdomen. Common carder bumblebees are also quite messy looking, with longer hair than the next two species.

Moss carder bumblebee

A much neater, sometimes described as velvety, and brighter ginger blonde carder bumblebee, the Moss carder bumblebee (Bombus muscorum) is a rare bumblebee. This carder bumblebee is mainly found in coastal areas in England and Wales but can be more widespread in Scotland. Usually seen between May and September, the Moss carder bumblebee is more likely to be spotted in flower-rich countryside than gardens. Unlike the Common carder bumblebee, this bumblebee never has black hairs on the thorax or abdomen. A beautiful and striking colour variation, with a deep gingery red thorax, can be found on some of the islands around the UK.

Brown-banded carder bumblebee

Last, but definitely not least, is the Brown-banded carder bumblebee (Bombus humilis). Another of our rare bumblebees, the Brown-banded carder bumblebee is confined to the south of England and Wales where it can be seen between May and September. A key feature of this species is the ginger brown band across the top of the abdomen which is a similar colour to the thorax. Look out for the pale blonde hair patches on the side of the thorax under the wing bases and black hairs around the wing bases.

Top tips for identifying carder bumblebees

These three species (Common carder, Brown-banded and Moss carder bumblebee) can be tricky to tell apart, especially when there are faded and worn individuals around at the end of the nesting season, so our top tips for spotting them are:

• Know which species might be present in your area by taking a look at our bumblebee species guide
• Learn how to safely catch and pot bumblebees for a closer look with a hand lens in our helpful video
• Practice, practice, practice! Enjoy looking out for bumblebees and spotting the differences between the species. Spring and early summer can be the best time to start identifying bumblebees before there are too many individuals around

National Insect Week is a celebration of all things insect and is organised by the Royal Entomological Society, and supported by partner organisations throughout the UK and Europe. You can find more information here.