Bob's Blog - the Great Yellow Journey

July 2010

2011-02-14T10:44:00.001Z

A flurry of email activity at the start of the month before heading north to Orkney. We were able to publicise the success of National Insect Week in the local Tiree paper, An Tirisdeach, and also follow up on an intriguing project by the Macaulay Institute, who are resurveying areas of machair that were looked at in the 1970s. There is the chance to survey great yellow bumblebee numbers in relation to these plant surveys, which could indicate preferred management options for bees, and – very tentatively – suggest what possible impact on bee numbers any changes in vegetation and land use over the past 30+ years may have had.

I broke my journey north at a few places before catching the evening ferry, looking at the availability of spring flowers for great yellow bumblebees. Thankfully, after a long day, I didn’t have far to go to find the B&B (The Inn at St Mary’s, Holm) which was wonderful. I took a short walk before breakfast on the opposite side of the road where there was perhaps a total area of red clover patches totalling perhaps 20m²in an area of 100m². Remarkably, there were four great yellow bumblebee queens here (one was rather small), three of which had collected pollen! The numbers of great yellow bumblebees certainly do seem to have increased on Orkney, probably due to a combination of good weather and beneficial management being carried out by farmers there.

One of my reasons to visit now was to check the progress of a small number of ‘pollen & nectar’ mixes using agricultural legumes. Three of the five sites had done well, and all of these had great yellow bumblebees. At one of these sites, hosted by Dick Matson, we also had a quick look at bees in the garden, at Dick’s suggestion. I looked at a patch of Geranium where there was a slow-moving bumblebee and did something of a double take – surely this is a Barbut’s cuckoo bumblebee?! It looked just like the ones I saw with Pippa in May, with a slightly dingy yellow ‘collar’. Catching the bee allowed us to see the distinctive ridges on the underside to confirm that this was indeed Bombus barbutellus, a rare and localised species in Scotland – the nearest records to Orkney are from Aberdeen! John Crossley circulated the information and remarkably two more females were seen in July, another on Mainland Orkney and one on Egilsay. It seems there are some older records from Orkney, and a photo of a good candidate was taken the year before.

I also attended an Open Day run by the Scottish Agricultural College concerning the use of clover in silage (see photo of Luing cattle, photo courtesy of Graham Scott). The use of red clover in particular has increased, and young cattle can put on nearly 1kg a day on this rich diet! I also visited a couple of farms in the company of Graham Scott of SAC, to look at suitability of sites for great yellow bumblebee and discuss management. In contrast to the Open Day, the weather was terrible, but no excuse not to look at flowers.

I left Orkney on the afternoon ferry and headed to Bettyhill to join Paul Castle for a guided walk at the Farr Glebe bumblebee sanctuary. The rain had abated and we had a beautiful evening with the few brave souls that had taken a gamble on the weather improving. A great yellow bumblebee queen was busy collecting pollen, with perhaps the same individual returning within 20 minutes to gather more pollen. After the walk, Paul and I looked at the Naverside area, where there is abundant kidney vetch this year, and also the peculiar legume, purple oxytropis. We saw another great yellow bumblebee queen here.

Much of the remainder of the month was spent visiting sites to assess flower richness, suitability for Species Action Framework demonstration sites, or visiting farms. It was exciting to confirm that great yellow bumblebee was still present at Melvich, where they had been found for the first time last year by Paul. The pollen & nectar mix plots on Caithness farms had now started to flower, and by the end of the month there were a number of records of great yellow bumblebees from the volunteers monitoring the sites. There was an encouraging number of sightings of workers from the third week in July. For me, a particular highlight was seeing my first great yellow bumblebees at Durness, with workers collecting pollen from red clover and a queen prospecting for a nest site at a stone wall. In Caithness reports of workers included several away from the pollen & nectar mix plots. This was the first chance we had to see which of the wildflowers were being used as pollen sources. Several of the verges were very flower rich, and the use of red clover and tufted vetch were not a surprise, but meadowsweet was. The past two years of the Bumblebee Habitat Project has revolutionised our understanding of great yellow bumblebees in Caithness, with much cause for optimism.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

June 2010

2011-02-11T11:15:00.001Z

June’s busy start continued right through the months. There were a number of highlights, one of which was revisiting two flower-rich sites among the Dunnet Bay dunes, identified by Murdo Macdonald in 1999. Queen great yellow bumblebees were present at both sites, which was fabulous. At the south end of the dunes there is a good range of flower species, and the bees here were using red clover (see photo). The other site is dominated by kidney vetch, and supports a healthy small blue colony (another UK BAP species). The same evening we also held a training day for volunteers, starting at the Seadrift visitor centre (well worth a visit) and then moving out into the dunes. Also in Caithness, the pollen and nectar seed mixes sown in May had germinated well, and the different components could be clearly picked out among the arable wildflowers.

In Sutherland, there was an enthusiastic turn out for my talk in the village hall, and Donald Mitchell reported a great yellow bumblebee feeding on kidney vetch by the Durness visitor centre. This was the first spring queen reported in the area since 2005, when one was seen at the same place (and two seen nearby) by a visiting entomologist. An assessment of the diversity and abundance of flowers along the north Sutherland coast was particularly encouraging, especially in the Kyle of Tongue (a National Scenic Area dominated by the dramatic Ben Loyal). There is a historic record from the Kyle (1974) and it is a crucial gap in the known modern distribution of great yellow bumblebee on the UK mainland.

The month finished in celebration of National Insect Week where my great yellow bumblebee work started two years ago, on the Inner Hebridean islands of Coll and Tiree. These islands are the only places in Scotland where you can regularly see all three of Scotland’s priority bumblebee species: great yellow, moss carder (of the striking Hebridean form) and red-shanked carder. On Coll, we also now have the start of a bumblebee recording group, which is fantastic news. There was an encouraging number of sightings of spring queen great yellow bumblebees, including one that had ventured into a local restaurant on Tiree (Ceabhar). For the safari we had a glorious day at Balephetrish dunes - much better weather than when we were filmed in advance of the National Lottery Awards! We saw several queen great yellow bumblebees, including ones collecting pollen (kidney vetch again) and also prospecting for nest sites. We also found a Barbut’s cuckoo bumblebee Bombus barbutellus - present on Coll but this appears to be a ‘first’ for Tiree! Across Gunna Sound, a queen buff-tailed bumblebee B. terrestris was a ‘first’ for Coll which seemed very out of place among the dunes. My ‘bumblebee safaris’ complemented talks by Darren Mann on the amazing oil beetles that had been discovered on Coll, and which rely on solitary bees for part of their life cycle. I also had the great pleasure of meeting up with Donald MacKinnon of the Scottish Agricultural College, and visiting a number of crofts on Tiree that were considering applying to agri-environment schemes. It is hard not to be enthralled by the islands, with basking sharks offshore and a rich diversity of birds (I came across a female corncrake and two young chicks on the roadside). A long-tailed skua was a delight as it sailed along a beach on Tiree as I was busy counting red-shanked carder bee queens, and although there was some uncertainty as to whether I could leave the islands (the regular ferry was out of action), in the end it was probably for the best that I returned to Stirling!

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

Durness

2010-06-08T22:07:00.001+01:00

An opportunity to spend a few days in NW Sutherland and see Highland Council Countryside Ranger Donald Mitchell. The great yellow bumblebee is perhaps more vulnerable here than anywhere else in its now highly restricted range. Donald has seen more than anyone else in recent years but numbers are usually very low. The availability of spring forage for queens had been a concern last year, with bird's-foot trefoil and kidney vetch the main flowers likely to be used early on. I have received reports of good numbers of queens in Orkney over the past week using the former. Sango Bay has a good amount of both species, particularly around the Tourist Information Centre, so it is hoped they will be visited by newly emerged queens. There are other areas where yellow rattle, red clover, tufted vetch and meadow vetchling will become available - the first two had already started flowering - which will be vital as the queens start their nests and the worker numbers build up during July. There was also some eyebright, a beautiful but very complicated group of species, one of the reasons why the Sutherland coast is an Important Plant Area. There is also a fair bit of bush vetch flowering, used by great yellows at the nearby Sandwood Estate by Kinlochbervie. There, I met Don O'Driscoll, the John Muir Trust ranger, where the bush vetch was flowering well and used by common carder bees and garden bumblebee. We caught a single moss carder bee queen, but Don spotted perhaps another, that seemed to be visiting a nest.

I also checked a 5km stretch around the Kyle of Tongue, from Melness to Talmine and Strathan. One area was superb, with spring and summer forage, perhaps too small to encourage a wandering queen to establish residence, but nearby crofts could hold the key. Other areas had excellent summer forage to come, particularly knapweeds but also tufted vetch and meadow vetchling. However, suitable flower-rich areas were patchy. This area is the largest gap in the current distribution along the north coast. It would be wonderful to discover the great yellow bumblebee here in the summer - a final stepping stone linking the Sutherland and Caithness populations. There is an old record from Skullomie, near the bay at Coldbackie on the east side of the Kyle.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

Mull and Iona

2010-06-08T21:26:00.000+01:00

A short period on Iona and the Ross of Mull to look for red-shanked carder bee Bombus ruderarius, found on Iona in 2005 by BBCT Director Ben Darvill. In Scotland, it is currently only known from the nearby islands of Coll and Tiree. No luck with spring queens, though a 'black, red-tailed' bumblebee at the far north end proved, after careful stalking, to be a red-tailed bumblebee Bombus lapidarius. New for Iona perhaps, but not the main target! In summer, there is a better chance to find workers and males, if one or more queens establish nests. There were at least two queens of the moss carder bee Bombus muscorum, which was great. There were a few corncrakes calling, and if there are flower-rich grasslands managed for these, then this will also support the bees. I also met up with the National Trust for Scotland volunteers, but the weather turned breezy and showery. However, we did find a caterpillar of the belted beauty moth, and in a brief period of sunshine a narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth sped by.

The next day, I visited a very productive area of the Ross of Mull, where there were a couple more moss carder bee queens, a first dark green fritillary of the year, more belted beauty caterpillars, a couple of solitary bee species, an approachable golden-ringed dragonfly and another narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth, which was nectaring at bird's-foot trefoil a few inches from my boot. Then, off to the north and Sutherland.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

training and nest activity

2010-05-30T15:55:00.001+01:00

Scottish Biodiversity Week closed with a training day at Killiecrankie, as part of the Tayside Biodiversity Festval. A fitting climax, and the weather was very kind to us despite a prolonged downpour in the morning. Several bumblebee species were found, including the forest cuckoo bumblebee Bombus sylvestris - a new 10km square record! Only queens of the social species were seen, inlcuding early bumblebee. We may be seeing new queens soon down in Stirling. A queen of the 'northern' white-tailed bumblebee was caught (Bombus magnus) which was my first of the year. A few solitary bees were also found. A second training day was on Friday with Edinburgh and Lothian rangers at Holyrood Park. An excellent turnout, and though a little cooler, we missed the worst of the rain. There were many queen common carder bees at white deadnettle, and fresh (later emerging?) buff-tailed bumblebee queens, but also one or two workers of both the former species and early bumblebee. Natalie Taylor spotted a queen common carder bee heading into some moss and grass at the base of a large rock. Aftera few minutes the bee came out again. We felt strongly that this was a nest, and Natalie will keep an eye on it, and be able to incorporate it into the guided walks at the Park. No cuckoo bumblebees, which was a shame, but a few solitary bees included the early mining bee Andrena haemorrhoa and possibly Andrena scotica when the sun came out, and the day was further brightened by several small copper butterflies (including 4 together) and the peculiar day-flying moth, the Mother Shipton. I safely negotiated the Edinburgh back roads and the M9, to be greeted at home by a male early bumblebee, the first of the year, on an ornamental thistle - Cirsium rivulare atropurpureum. A very good bumblebee plant that I first came across in the garden at RSPB Vane Farm. It doesn't set seed and am guessing it only provides nectar, but great for bees.

Back home, and although one of the early bumblebee nests has failed, the one in the bumblebee box is doing very well. 12 workers in and 12 out in quarter of an hour - more data for Steph O'Connor's nest project! We do have a new nest though, again an early bumblebee and again in a man made structure. This one is in a turning compost bin - which goes to show I don't turn it very often - just over 5m from the other nest. It's a bit of a lottery which holes the bees use, but most come out of the centre one in the top. The bin amplifies the buzzing quite dramatically! Less activity than the bumblebee box nest (5 workers in and 6 out) so am guessing it was established a little later. Photos of all three nest sites attached.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

southward bound

2010-05-22T08:16:00.001+01:00

Getting ready to head south, to Highland Perthshire, after a great week in Caithness, where after last week's snow and hail we have seen some wonderful sunny and warm weather. It has been very busy, with a well-attended public talk in Castletown during the week - thanks to Gordon for the organisation! Also a very warm welcome from the Olrig and District Beekeepers. The main foucs of the week has been farm visits, especially linked to the project we are running in partnership with the Caithness Biodiversity Group, providing flower-rich seed mixes to sow in corners of arable fields. It was great to meet up with Phyllida Sayles and some of her volunteer recorders again.

I have also been looking at a few grassland sites, especially interested to see where there are good amounts of the flowers that the great yellow bumblebee uses, such as yellow rattle and common knapweed, even if they're mostly only a centimetre or two high at the moment. There is also quite a bit of meadow vetchling coming through already and one of the sites appears to be an old, but neglected hay meadow, that is no longer part of a farm. However, there seems scope to restore it with a bit of TLC.

As everywhere else this year, the flowers and the bees are about two weeks late, though this morning I see that the white-tailed queens are homing in on sycamore blossom. Any bumblebee searching has been along road verges where dandelions are flowering abundantly. Gypsy cuckoo bumblebees are very common just now, mooching away and getting stained by dandelion pollen. I counted 13 along one stretch. At one point I stopped and was halted in my tracks by the rasping call of a corncrake, which I think was in one of the ditches. Not wanting to disturb it, I phoned Dave Jones of RSPB, based in Caithness, and we met up in the evening. The bird was still calling away as the landowner arrived, waiting on a grass seed delivery, and said he thought he had heard one the previous evening.

The same day I was delighted to catch a queen moss carder bee. I then took photos of what I suspect to be a second individual - the dilemma of 'to catch or not to catch'! Later on I took photos of a common carder bee that looked very like moss carder (side view). Both pictures included here.

And finally, the sparrows around the livestock farms in Caithness seem to be doing well. No problems of insect shortages for them and have seen a couple of broods out being fed by attentive parents. We ended up buying live mealworms at home for ours, which were instantly collected by the female sparrows, with a first fledgeling seen last weekend, a couple of weeks later than the first one last year.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

Scottish Biodiversity Week begins!

2010-05-17T21:28:00.000+01:00

It's May, and Scottish Biodiversity Week has come round again. Over the weekend I was in Morayshire, visiting Forres and Findhorn. There was a fundraiser at a children's garden In Forres on Saturday, complete with not one, but two performances by Margot in her bespoke bee suit. A talk in the evening was attended by a number of people, with a walk the next day needing to be rearranged to a site with flowers given the late season. In the end, the walk was excellent, turning up 5 of the 'Big 6' (just red-tailed bumblebee eluded us) plus a couple of gypsy cuckoo bumblebees. A couple of early bumblebee workers were also busy collecting pollen, so some nests have been established and are on the go. A honeybee was found, so we could compare the pollen baskets of this with those of the bumblebees. Green tiger beetles were much in evidence on the warm sunshine and we came across many solitary bees, with the males smaller and differently coloured to the females. See the picture for a mating pair - again, no courtship, just the female staying still for nearly a whole second. These may be identifiable from the photo as Andrena barbilabris. We shall see! If they are, it is a new 10km square according to the NBN Gateway.

Then off to Caithness, arrriving at Thurso late on, via a hayfield I had seen last year with much yellow rattle, which was coming through well again. A busy week ahead and the weather looks set to be fine. Still probably too early for the great yellow bumblebee queens to be out, but there is an abundance of dandelions at the moment, and last year the earliest queens were seen at this flower.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

Hants, Wilts and Gloucs

2010-05-17T21:17:00.000+01:00

A foray to the far south last week, to meet up with Pippa Rayner, BBCT Conservation Officer for England and Wales, working on the shrill carder bee Bombus sylvarum. A welcome chance to learn some grasses - though I seem to have a thing for crested dog's-tail, which we eventually found. It was then the first grass I picked up in Caithness, where I arrived last night. At least I think it was!

A very successful visit, covering nearly 20 grasses, mostly associated with meadows. Now I have to practice back on my own patch! On the bee front, we encounted a number of beefy female Southern Cuckoo bumblebees B. vestalis, a queen and worker red-shanked carder bee B. ruderarius and my first 'tree bee' B. hypnorum. We also found two female Barbut's cuckoo bumblebees B. barbutellus, each feeding at bugle flowers. This is a very scarce species in Scotland so it was good to see, though we had to rely on the diagnostic structure of the bumps ('callosities') on the underside of the last abdominal segment for identification! There was also a stunning little solitary bee Osmia bicolor and I saw my first 'hairy-footed flower bees' Anthophora plumipes. Cowslips were putting on a good show, with the delicate horseshoe vetch in flower at one site, and both green-winged and early marsh orchids out. As elsewhere, everything is late this year.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

weekend activity

2010-05-09T12:19:00.000+01:00

The apple blossom at home is certainly getting attention, and I managed to get a photo of one of the very active early bumblebee workers. The subtlety of courtship of the red mason bee was also demonstrated, by a male hurling himself onto a female. They grappled for a while on the blossom before falling to the deadnettle below. After about a minute the female reappeared, seemingly none the worse for her ordeal. I suspect not a successful mating. A passing snipe fly clearly thought I was a handy vantage point to watch out for prey, and then took up station above the front door.

Sadly, the bumblebee nest in the tit box has failed - the queen has succumbed to the spider also present in the box. However, the one in the bumblebee box is doing well, though a female forest cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus sylvestris) has spent time nearby The blackbird chicks departed the relative security of our garden and from the behaviour of the parents, it looks like these were immediately snuffed out, most likely by one or more of the many local moggies. House sparrows also seem to be having a hard time. Usually the first broods are pretty successful, but the adults seem to be finding it hard securing enough insect food for the chicks in this late spring. Bread is being taken to nests, and at least two pairs were mating this morning, suggesting failed clutches.

Flower resources outside gardens are still thin on the ground. The willow here is has finished, although sycamore blossom is just becoming available. Bush vetch flowers are also nearly open, but the yellow comfrey has just started to flower. A grasshopper warbler was an unusual vistor to an old walled garden, singing its peculiar song in short snatches from a low willow branch.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

small queens around

2010-05-05T11:13:00.002+01:00

Although we are now just seeing the first workers of early and buff-tailed bumblebee, there have been some surprsingly small queens of early bumblebee and common carder bee around. The behaviour was typical of other 'normal' sized queens, with foraging interspersed with nest searching activity. There is always quite a bit of variation, and Murdo Macdonald of the Highland Biological Recording Group tells me that he previously examined a very small queen garden bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) to confirm that it had indeed mated. I did wonder if this might be a problem, though equally, some males can also be very small. The large variation in size of spring queens may well reflect a reduced ability of workers to find food the previous summer, for example because of poor weather, or simply lack of the right flowers. Therefore some larvae may not get much food, and become small queens and males. Also, it is possible that the small size of these queens may mean that their dominance over the workers is reduced once the nest is established, and so success of these nests (in terms of new queens recruited) may be low.

early bumblebee nests

2010-04-29T20:11:00.002+01:00

At home the other evening I watched a queen early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) sail directly into our blue tit nestbox. She stayed in for about 20 minutes, then headed off, presumably foraging, and came back after a few minutes. It seemed to be a case of 'blink and you miss her', so spotting her comings and goings was harder, perhaps, than dealing with one of the "Weeping Angels" from Doctor Who! Remarkably, yesterday evening I saw another queen early bumblebee sailing in - this time straight into one of our bumblebee nestboxes! Yes, this was another nest, just a few steps from the other one. Maybe it was the stones stacked around the entrance hole that did the trick, the box has been there for 5 years. I think this was a 'top tip' we received from one of our Buzzword contributors. Fingers crossed for lots of efficient fruit pollination over the coming weeks, with the blueberries, apples and pear finally opening up for business. No honeybees yet, though there was a large solitary bee on a dandelion, caked with yellow pollen, that initially made me think of honeybee. No pollen baskets though. It was perhaps Andrena nigroaenea.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

April flies by

2010-04-28T10:57:00.001+01:00

Quite a few April showers around but plenty of bumblebee activity, which is encouraging. I saw my first cuckoo bumblebee (forest cuckoo bumblebee Bombus sylvestris) on 17^th, and an early bumblebee queen seems to have set up shop in our blue tit nest box. I was also sent photos of the blaeberry bumblebee Bombus monticola, from the Borders (Garry Mabon) and Aberdeenshire (Mike Daniels), both of which were new 10km squares However, time outside has been limited, with a lot of planning for the field season, finalising dates for visits and events, ordering seed mixes and a number of meetings. Last week I was in Inverness for a couple of days, visiting SNH to talk about monitoring and possible field margin benefits for bumblebees that could be supported through agri-environment and attending a steering group meeting for the great yellow bumblebee Species Action Framework project. I also met up with Janet Bromham, one of the Highland Council biodiversity officers, to chat about progress on a project that Janet was instrumental in supporting, and possibilities for road verge management along the lines of what has been tried in Orkney. The SAF meeting suffered at least one Vulcan tragedy, with the SNH invertebrate specialist stranded abroad. However, we still had a productive meeting, with the usual split screen video conferencing with the islands and the north Highlands. At home, the blackbirds have fledged. Some bumblebee pictures soon, I promise!

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

pollen collection - at last!

2010-04-12T17:55:00.001+01:00

Today at lunchtime I made the most of the weather and took a short walk. I finally saw a bumblebee collecting pollen at sallow catkins. Surprisingly it was a white-tailed bumblebee, rather than the more common buff-tailed (outnumbering the white-taileds here by approximately 3:1). To give an indication of the lateness of this spring compared with 2009, I saw my first worker bumblebee on 19th April last year. No doubt other queens have already established nests this spring, but even so it will be four weeks or so from laying eggs to the first workers emerging.

Early bumblebees were about as common as white-tailed, and the majority of bumblebees were nest-searching. A few honeybees were also collecting pollen, and there was another bee fly, this time at male sallow catkins. Quite a few butterflies, mainly peacocks, with a couple of small tortoiseshells and two whites, one a green-veined white and the other probably a small white.

A month or more to go before the first great yellow bumblebees emerge! We should - hopefully - start seeing the rest of the 'Big 6' in numbers soon around Stirling, and the first cuckoo bumblebees.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

otterly magical

2010-04-12T17:44:00.001+01:00

A glorious Sunday morning, and took a walk to the west side of the village. Single chiffchaff, willlow warbler and blackcap had arrived to stake their teritorial claims, but remarkably there were three otters - a mother and 2 cubs - on the river. Mum quickly caught an eel and a flatfish for the youngsters to deal with. They were not bothered by us standing just 30m away. We left them in peace, with the year's first red-tailed bumblebee Bombus lapidarius something of an anticlimax.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

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2010-04-12T15:08:00.001+01:00

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solitary bees emerging

2010-04-10T20:19:00.000+01:00

The first solitary bee of the year seen the other day, shortly after followed by the first swallow. The bee is a chestnut and black bee, quite possibly Andrena clarkella. There are over 50 species of Andrena in the UK, so this one genus of solitary bee has more than twice the number of species than there are bumblebees in the UK! Check out the photo gallery at the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society. Identification to species generally requires confirmation under a microscope, but many solitaries - easily overlooked - are decidedly 'cute' and worth keeping an eye out for. It is still around today but continues to be unapproachable, unlike the year's first red mason bee Osmia rufa which was at winter heather. This is the same day as the first last year (2nd Saturday in April). There has been a bee fly Bombylius major around too - this parasitises solitary bees. Life's rich tapestry!

There have been a couple of common carder bees out too (Bombus pascuorum) but still slow going for bumblebees. There were nest-searching queens of three species seen today in the lovely weather, but still none collecting pollen. Still seems to be only sallow catkins available from the local native flora, and at night these are visited by a number of moths, including an assortment of quakers, plus the more distinctive Hebrew character and (below, caught last night) early grey.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

spring - wherefore art thou?

2010-04-07T08:23:00.001+01:00

Despite a flurry of bumblebees around 20th March, including several early bumblebees Bombus pratorum, since then spring seems largely to have stalled.

That this year flowering is much later than last year is evident from the fact that in early April 2009, 32 flower species were in flower in the garden, while on the same date this year the total was a mere 13. And this is not simply due to flowers dying off in the winter. Also, of those flowering, lungwort (Pulmonaria) was all but finished in early April last year, whereas this year it has only just got going. However, in the news today is that average flowering times of many flowers are earlier in the last 25 years than they have been over the last 250 years! The importance of catkins of willows, particularly pussy willow Salix caprea cannot be understated at this time of year. There are few, if any, other native flowers just now, hence most bumblebees are visiting ornamental species in parks and gardens.

Still, we are seeing the occasional bumblebee, including a first nest-searching queen buff-tailed the other day. None seen collecting pollen yet. And there are other signs of spring, with a trickle of black-headed gulls and meadow pipits northwards, and a highlight last night was a pair of frogs and some fresh spawn in the pond. There is great activity from our dunnock 'pair', while the blackbird eggs must be due to hatch soon, all being well. A pair of robins were indulged in courtship, for which (robins being robins) the postures involved are indistinguishable from threat displays! For courtship, however, it seems that male threatens female, male retreats, female advances, and so on.

The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010

The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

more insect activity!

2010-03-15T08:42:00.001Z

On Saturday two buff-tailed bumblebees were seen at Edinburgh Botanic Gardens by David Adamson, with two hoverflies and a seven-spot ladybird there too. On Mother’s Day, our garden was graced by a queen common wasp Vespula vulgaris (a useful pollinator in summer, e.g. of violet helleborine!) and the first mosquito of the year. The previous day a buff-tailed bumblebee queen visited the flowers of winter hazel.

Bumblebees finally emerge in Stirling!

2010-03-12T15:12:00.000Z

The last week has seen, at last, some bumblebee activity in the Central Belt! Cath Scott in Glasgow was first last Sunday, with Norman Storie finding 2 queen buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) nearby at crocuses the next day. Both Natasha and Chrissie from the BBCT office saw fly-by queens during the week and today, having seen honeybees active at winter heather on the campus on Wednesday, there were at least five bumblebee queens at lunchtime. One just flew by (the queens can really move around in spring), three were buff-tailed bumblebees, and the other a queen ‘cryptic bumblebee’ (Bombus cryptarum) – one of the three species that comprise the white-tailed bumblebee (‘Bombus lucorum’) complex. This was a very well-marked queen, with the black ‘S’ at each end of the yellow collar looking like it had been drawn in by a marker pen! Other individuals may not be very well marked at all though. It is quite possible there are other species to discover in this complex, so very confusing! At the moment, queens of this group are identified according to the collar pattern, but even this may not be reliable! Still, a beautiful wee beastie all the same – spring is here!! Also, a report from RSPB of a ‘white-tailed bumblebee’ on Colonsay. It is thought that the ‘cryptic’ is the earliest to emerge in spring of the white-tailed bumblebee complex, so quite likely that this island bumblebee was one of these.

Vote to help the Shrill Carder Bee in Wales!

2010-01-28T09:28:00.000Z

A great opportunity to help the rare Shrill Carder Bee in a special part of Wales, by voting for a project proposed by BBCT Conservation Officer Pippa Rayner. You can vote online under ‘most worthy eco project’ at www.livefortheoutdoors.com! But hurry, voting closes in a week or so.

First bumblebee of the year reported!

2010-01-19T09:11:00.001Z

The cold snap over and suddenly, a report of a bumblebee flying along near Edinburgh Zoo at 14:30 on Sunday 17th January, from David Adamson. The expectation is that this was a queen buff-tailed bumblebee. I have seen this species in early February near Stirling, but this is a remarkable record. Could the cold spell have influenced this queen's emergence in some way? David's sighting encouraged me to look at the winter heathers on the university campus in the sunshine at lunchtime. There were some flowers, but not too surprisingly, no bees.

Guardian seminar

2010-01-12T13:02:00.001Z

I was sent a cutting from The Guardian at the end of last year, about a Guardian seminar with Natural England regarding 'ecosystem services'. This coincided with the launch of a new report, "No Charge? Valuing the Natural Environment". One of the participants stated that "bees are a vital part of the supply chain, yet the story is always told like it's a shame they are vanishing but only really relevant if you work in an orchard…how much would it cost to make an artificial bee? Where is the sense of panic that this vital part of the supply chain is going missing?". I am guessing that the participant was using 'bees' to refer to honeybees only, which are important and have been in trouble, but our wild bees also carry out a lot of pollination, a word strangely absent from the Natural England report. The statement seems borne of frustration, but I can't help feel concerned. An implication is that if wildlife doesn't provide an 'ecosystem service', or at least one that that we can assign a financial value to, then does this mean it's not worth protecting? At the conference, it was acknowledged that this simplistic 'balance-sheet' approach was controversial but something may have to change, perhaps, as one participant suggested, to ensure that the environment is treated as infrastructure and invested in accordingly.

I am happy to report, however, that the story is not "always told like it's a shame they are vanishing…". True, many bumblebee species have declined, but there is so much more interest and awareness now. The work we are doing with Great Yellow Bumblebee, together with other organisations, local groups and communities, shows that there is scope for good news, and though there is a lot still to be done, the signs are promising. Perhaps some 'Great Yellow Bumblebee' merchandising or wildlife tours could allow someone to attach a financial value to it, and at least one crofter on South Uist is in possession of Great Yellow Bumblebee-pollinated broad beans! However, the Great Yellow Bumblebee is one of a number of rare species that we have an international obligation to protect. This means supporting the habitats and landscapes that support these bees, the 'ecosystem approach', and much more wildlife besides - there are solutions out there!

2010 - International Year of Biodiversity

2010-01-06T09:37:00.001Z

Happy New Year! December finished with a flurry of activity, and I spent a fascinating day with Dr. Paul Williams of the Natural History Museum (and BBCT Trustee). In the grounds of the museum, Buff-tailed Bumblebee workers were busy at the flowering Mahonia, while the nearby outdoor ice rink bustled, evoking fond memories of learning to skate on a frozen canal in Ottawa, and sampling 'beaver tails'! I saw other Buff-tailed Bumblebees using winter heathers (collecting pollen) and winter jasmine elsewhere in London. I wonder if any of these nests survived the hard weather?

Paul showed me specimens of a wide range of species, including the now official 'lectotype' of Great Yellow Bumblebee, originally described by Morawitz in 1869. Although the pattern of Great Yellow Bumblebee is distinctive among UK bumblebees, there are perhaps 20 or 30 species worldwide that look very similar - these all seem to be associated with grasslands. The helpful black band between the wings seems to be the commonest single feature among all bumblebees - but we don't know why! Among European bumblebees, Great Yellow Bumblebee is most similar genetically to Short-haired Bumblebee. However, the evidence suggests that it is actually more similar to two North American species, Bombus borealis and Bombus appositus. Great Yellow has a current range that is more extensive than Short-haired, found across Eurasia, even as far as the Aleutian Islands. It is also a more northern species and it, or an ancestor, may have benefited from the land bridge that formerly existed between Asia and North America.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/bombus/st.html

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/beringia2.html

Roadside seed mixes

2009-12-08T16:28:00.000Z

Jane Mackintosh has sent an email regarding clover-sown road verges, similar to one I saw at Helmsdale. These are in Midlothian on the new Dalkeith by-pass and by Rosewell. There were no flowers in November but very large leaves, suggesting an agricultural variety here also. A search on the internet by Jane revealed that there is an official Department of Transport mixture for roadside use. This is a mix for hard wear, with quick establishment, short growth, good root stability and improves fertility. Will tolerate road salt and exhaust fumes. Mow as necessary or twice a year to 75-100mm. For info, the mix is 25% Perennial ryegrass, 20% Creeping red fescue, 30% Hard fescue, 10% Smooth stalked meadow grass, 10% Brown top bent, 5% White clover.

The white clover is a popular bumblebee and honeybee flower, though the larger agricultural varieties may favour the longer-tongued species. A low productivity, species-rich roadside verge habitat could be very useful in some areas, and Orkney has championed 'conservation verges', which are used there by great yellow bumblebee, among other species. However, the proximity of good bumblebee habitat to busy roads could be a problem, especially if the surrounding areas are very poor, thereby concentrating the bees in the best habitat patches. The well-known charity fund-raiser Lloyd Scott, he of the Deep Sea Diver suit and the London Marathon, has recently completed a walk from Lands End to John O'Groats, and phoned in to say that the commonest roadkill, sadly, was bumblebees. I think this shows that what we do to help bees in our gardens, parks and the wider countryside is important, and hopefully the impact of roads on our bumblebee numbers will be negligible.

North Coast Jewels

2009-11-18T09:34:00.001Z

In August, Paul Castle, Highland Council North Sutherland Ranger, found and photographed Great Yellow Bumblebees at two new sites, each representing a new 10km square for the distribution. This was fantastic news as it showed, for the first time, a link between the records at Bettyhill (Farr Glebe and other areas) and Scrabster by Thurso in Caithness, a distance of about 30 miles. Paul found his first at Melvich in Sutherland, on 6th August, feeding at lesser knapweed. This, and another one seen later in the month, were both workers, indicating an active nest in the area. The photo is a little blurred as he was suffering the attentions of Scotland's finest, The Midge! Melvich is at the far eastern end of one of Plantlife's Important Plant Areas, stretching from here all the way to Oldshoremore in the west, embracing all Sutherland's Great Yellow Bumblebee sites. Paul followed this up with a worker and a male at Sandside Bay, by Reay in Caithness. The extra yellow hairs on the face of the male are clearly visible in the photo. I had looked at this site at the end of July, and found a good amount of knapweed, plus Broken-belted Bumblebee (which Paul also saw), so I am delighted that Great Yellow has been confirmed here. Donald Mitchell, Highland Council North West Sutherland Ranger, also got in on the act, confirming - thankfully - Great Yellow Bumblebees in Durness this year, an area where the species may be particularly vulnerable.

A great boost in recording activity this year has seen a number of new 10km squares have been recorded with Great Yellow Bumblebee. Other squares with old records have been visited and the bee found still to be present. All this information is invaluable in maximising benefits to Great Yellow Bumblebee through agri-environment schemes. It is also wonderful that more people are now familiar with the species, and can distinguish the different queen, worker and male castes. The north's good weather in August this year has certainly helped, as this month has peak numbers of Great Yellows. Hopefully there is now a healthy 'bank' of hibernating queens for 2010. We will tot up the total number of occupied squares. It will be a long way below the pre-1970 total of 158 squares (across the UK) determined by bee, wasp and ant expert Mike Edwards in a 1997 review for Scottish Natural Heritage, so this bee will definitely be remaining at its official 'Nationally Scarce b' status (between 31 and 100 occupied 10km squares in the UK).