Westward to Sutherland

Having had a few days in Caithness, it was time to move on to Sutherland, the only other mainland location for the Great Yellow Bumblebee.  It is hard to believe that 100 years ago, this bumblebee was widespread across England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.  First stop was Bettyhill, where there is a lovely area at Farr Glebe (behind the Strathnaver Museum) at the head of Farr Bay.  In summer there is a profusion of flowers adored by bumblebees, including field scabious - rare elsewhere in the north.  The Great Yellow is regularly seen here, and there is an interpretation board.  The first bird's-foot trefoil (shown here), bush vetch and cowslip were in flower, but this area will just get better and better as summer approaches.  This is one of only three places where the Great Yellow Bumblebee has been reported regularly in Sutherland, and is well worth a visit.

 

I also headed up the Strath Naver road, distracted by a cuckoo (only my second this year - how their numbers have dropped) and a pair of lesser redpolls courtship feeding.  I visited Donald and Morag Macleod at the post office, whose garden was buzzing with bumblebees.  Donald is editor of Am Bratach, the news magazine for the north west, and the June issue should feature the Great Yellow Bumblebee in full colour - just in time for the main emergence of the queens from hibernation.  To Donald's amusement, I was later crouched down at 'bee level' taking photos of a queen Heath Bumblebee, one I have not yet seen around Stirling but which has its stronghold further north.

 

 

Caithness farm visit

Last Tuesday had a really interesting visit, with Phyllida Sayles of the Caithness LBAP, to a farm near Thurso where I saw a Great Yellow Bumblebee last August.  This is an interesting area where there is good, flower-rich habitat, and existing agri-environment management, so very encouraged with regard to the bee's fortunes here this year.  It is one of four areas in Caithness identified for monitoring this year under the Species Action Framework project for Great Yellow Bumblebee (funded by Scottish Natural Heritage), for which BBCT is a partner.

 

The previous day, it had been invaluable to meet the intrepid band of volunteers that Phyllida has recruited for the monitoring, and with some early Great Yellow records already things are really moving forward.  Caithness has a fair amount of arable land, so we are exploring pollen and nectar rich options in this agricultural landscape that may help the Great Yellow - more on that at a later date.  The photo shows a view across the fields near the coast, with the island of Hoy (Orkney) in the distance.  A quick bite to eat, and then a look at the bumblebees in Phyllida's garden where we were very pleasantly surprised to see a queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee basking on a stone. This is common further south but very few have been seen north of the Dornoch Firth.  We think this is the furthest north on the UK mainland one has ever been seen!

 

**STOP PRESS**

Congratulations to Mary Legg for snapping this Great Yellow Bumblebee in her Caithness garden on 22nd May!  This is a little way inland from recent records, which are from the north and north-east coast, and is just the kind of record that we hope our BBCT postcard project will reveal.  This project was launched during Scottish Biodiversity Week (16th-24th May), and we hope others will be inspired to look for this wonderful bumblebee in Caithness and Sutherland - the last places to see the Great Yellow Bumblebee on the UK mainland.  More postcards available soon, and hopefully more of your photos too!

 

North coast arrival

Quick update just now as things have been busy and internet access intermittent along the north coast of Caithness and Sutherland. Scottish Biodiversity Week this year ran from 16th-24th May and with the help of the Caithness LBAP, Highland Council Rangers and the John Muir Trust, a programme of walks and talks went really well.  Thankfully the weather was an improvement on my last visit in March!  Many thanks also to Caithness Summer Fruits of Halkirk for letting us visit their polytunnels - the photo shows a White-tailed Bumblebee visiting a raspberry flower.

 

There was even a sighting of Great Yellow Bumblebee at Dunnet Bay (on dandelion) during the week, hot on the heels of a remarkable early report in April.  It's been an early spring around Stirling, so perhaps also in the north?  Regardless, after just one report of Great Yellow Bumblebee in Caithness last year (and two in Sutherland), this is a very encouraging start!  Seven other bumblebee species were seen along the north coast of Caithness and Sutherland during Scottish Biodiversity Week 2009.