Bumblebee ID Training

Recently I had a wonderful informative day attending a bumblebee identification workshop on a local estate. The training event was organised and ran by Bumblebee Conservation Trust.  I was lucky enough to find out about this training day in plenty of time that I could attend, as I have recently had a tendency of finding out after the event. Another major bonus was that the training day was taking place only about ten minutes from my home.

At this time of year gardens, hedgerows and open spaces are buzzing with the noise of bumblebees. I should admit that this training day was a real eye opener for me as I didn’t really know much about bumblebees. I hadn’t really thought about the amount of different bumblebees that there actually are. At the event we spent the morning learning about the life cycle of the bumblebee and the different species and how to identify them. After the theory work we stopped for some lunch. After lunch we ventured outside to do some surveying and practical identification.

Introduction to bumblebees

In total there is two hundred and fifty species of bumblebee in the United Kingdom, which consists of twenty four species of bee, one species of honey bee and the rest are solitary bees. Bumblebees tend to only live for a year. Typically bumblebees are found in the northern hemisphere.

Honeybees V Bumblebees

One of the common questions is what the difference between the honeybee and bumblebee is. The honeybees are domesticated and live in controlled hides. There is only one species of honeybees. Their hides tend to have about fifty thousand worker bees and the colony will survive during the winter, although they can be highly affected by disease. The honeybee does what is known as a waggledance. Bumblebees on the other hand are wild and there is a number of different species. There tends to be between fifty and four hundred worker bees per nest. Bumblebees do not do a dance and it is only the queen bee that will survive during the winter.


Reasons for Declining Numbers

Honeybees are on decline due to the diseases that are present in hives whereas the bumblebee numbers are declining due to the loss of their habitats. One of the main reason that bumblebee numbers are decreasing is that they are losing their habitat and since the 1940’s about ninety eight per cent of flowering green land has been lost due to more intensive farming methods. Over the years farmers have taken out hedgerows in order to make bigger fields so that they can be more economical. Heavy grazing is another reason that bumblebees have been losing their natural habitats

Bumblebee Conservation Trust

This trust is concerned with the conservation of bumblebees all across the United Kingdom. The trust aims to raise public and political awareness of the bumblebee at the same time as promoting land and garden management that is bumblebee friendly. If you would like to find out more about the trust their website can be found at www.bumblebeeconservation.org.

The Importance of Conserving Bumblebees

Bumblebees are endearing and familiar insects in the garden and they are often described as the sound and sight of the summer months. Bumblebees are also very important for pollination of many crops and wildflowers. The pollination work that is carried out by bumblebees is worth many millions to the economy in the United Kingdom.