Newsletter #2 April 2021 www.pollinatinglondontogether.com

Pollinating London Together is a pan-livery initiative – all livery companies and members are urged to join us. So visit our new website, see what we are doing and register your support.

‘to create the spaces in the City of London and its immediate environs where all the natural pollinators can thrive and their habitats can be enjoyed by everyone.’

The view from Kew in April Kew hails the new bumblebee Queens

By Dr Hauke Koch You might have noticed the large bumblebee

queens urgently making their way around the

spring flowers. They are refuelling with nectar April is when Kew Gardens starts to and looking for nesting sites. . come alive after the winter, with flowers everywhere and buzzing

with pollinators.

DrOne of the reasons that Kew is such a great Hauke Koch in front of The Hive at Kew place for pollinators is the abundance of plants and a long flowering season and many of the favourite plants may be Bombus terrestris on Bombus Pascuorum on bluebell considered as weeds. Common species seen around Kew and the City

are the Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), and the Common Carder bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum). . It will take about a month for the queen to raise her first batch of workers, after which she will stay in the nest and let her daughters take care of the foraging.

A useful pocket guide to 10 of the bumblebee species you might find in London was produced by Hauke with the London Natural History Society and can be found here:

https://lnhs.org.uk/images/education/LNHS-

Learning-10-Bumblebees-High-Res.pdf Hauke standing in front of the Hive at Kew (The Ann Sowerby Fellow in Pollinator Health)

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Most people are familiar with honey bees and bumblebees, but look closely for smaller furry bees moving from flower to flower and you may see a mining .

Many species of solitary bees are also now appearing in the garden – in the UK there are around 250 species of solitary bees.

Among them, one of the most important (but often overlooked) groups of spring bee pollinators are mining bees ( sp.). These solitary bees get their name from the tunnels that the females excavate in the ground, featuring pollen-filled nest chambers for their developing larvae. Some of the species found in April at Kew include the Early Mining Bee (Andrena haemorrhoa), the Tawny Mining Bee (Andrena fulva), or the Grey- patched Mining Bee (Andrena nitida).

Tawny Mining Bee (Andrena Early Mining Bee (Andrena Grey- patched Mining Bee fulva) on a gooseberry haemorrhoa) on a dandelion (Andrena nitida).on dandelion Honestly I found them very difficult to tell apart but it is good to know that they are busy pollinating and I am glad that I left some dandelions in my garden.

Coming up in our newsletter next month – Citizen scientist volunteers needed now – how you can help Pollinating London Together is working with the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and needs volunteers to count pollinators and make an important contribution to the national pollinator database. No experience is needed.

Each FIT Count (Flower- Timed Count) takes ten minutes on a warm sunny day between April and September. You sit and watch visit flowers on a common plant- ideally, but not necessarily a plant from the 14 target flowers. If you can carry out several counts at the one location you will be adding extra value to your survey records.

The signing up details and all the information will be in next month’s issue.

The Red Mason Bee – Another hero in the garden that will be busy in May

Red mason bees are gentle, non-aggressive solitary bees that make their nests in hollow spaces rather than in hives and are excellent pollinators

We are delighted to share the first in a series of feature videos about the work of Pollinating London Together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwFKY41f4o [Episode 1: Your City Needs You!]