Buzzword Members’ Newsletter - March 2017 - Issue 33

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Buzzword Members’ newsletter - March 2017 - Issue 33

Saving the sound of summer

Bee the revolution and save the sound of summer

bumblebeeconservation.org 1 Bee the revolution

Those of us besotted by bumblebees, know how vital they are. They have an intrinsic value as well as the much stated economic value, (estimated at £691 million per year to the UK economy). Our members, volunteers and staff are united around the shared

purpose of ensuring their existence and conservation. But we need more people to understand, enjoy and cherish our bumblebees, that’s why at the AGM in December I urged

everyone in the room to ‘Bee the Revolution’. Photo: Thalia Brown, Together we can ensure our bumblebees flourish. Reversing the Buff-tailed bumblebee trend in their declines, needs a concerted effort by all of us who (Bombus terrestris) are passionate about them. “ Please help by asking friends and family to join the Trust. We can do even MORE to help bumblebees with more supporters. Spread the word, ‘bee the revolution’ and together, we can ‘save the sound of summer’. Thank you. Gill Perkins, CEO

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. Jane Goodall

Contents “4. Trees for bees 8. Companion planting . . . 16. Solitary bees 4 8 16

Get in touch Cover picture Post Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Beta Centre, Vivian Russell: Red-tailed Stirling University Innovation Park, Stirling FK9 4NF cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus Phone 01786 594 130 rupestris) Email [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 2 The bumble blog Your photo gallery If you would like to see your photo featured in Buzzword, Aviva Community Fund success!! please email: media@ November and December witnessed a massive flurry of bumblebeeconservation.org activity on social media, emails and phone calls to rally Thank you to the following: friends, families, volunteers and even strangers to support our Pollinating the Peak project. Beverley McCallion, Tree Well, 13,505 votes later after submitting the final parts of bumblebee (Bombus the application - we’ve done it! In early January, the Aviva hypnorum) Community Fund wrote to us, saying: “We’re delighted to share with you that your project Pollinating the Peak has been chosen as a winner in the Aviva Community Fund and have been awarded £25,000. Our judges scored your entry highly against some very strong competition”. So, what a summer we have planned for the people of Derbyshire in 2017. Sixteen weeks of local community days, bee safaris and science events for children and families. This will be a great summer for all! It would not have been possible without your support, so we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone. Michael Waldher, possibly Let’s see if we can all make the Peak District a much a Buff-tailed bumblebee friendlier place for our ‘red and lemon bottomed’ friends; (Bombus terrestris) the Bilberry bumblebee (Bombus monticola).

Making a Buzz for the Coast This project is exciting and ambitious, spanning the Kent and East Sussex coast, focusing on restoring and creating habitat for Kent’s wild bees, especially the Shrill carder bee (Bombus sylvarum). Tyrone Williams for this The Trust is delighted to be leading the project, in Red-tailed bumblebee partnership with Kent Wildlife Trust, Kent County Council, (Bombus lapidarius) Natural England and the RSPB. The project is currently in its development stage and we have been working with our partners preparing the Stage 2 application to the Heritage Lottery Fund during the past few months. We will be informed in June if the application has been successful and we will provide an update in our July edition of Buzzword - fingers crossed!

3 Saving the sound of summer! 3 Image: Bird cherry (Prunus padus) Spring Warming temperatures awaken hibernating queens and after being Trees for underground all winter their energy reserves are low and very much in need of replenishment before the bees beginning the task of nest hunting. By Laura Shakespeare, Once a favourable nest site has Fundraising Officer been found the queen will raise her first brood, but first, she must collect When planting your garden with enough pollen for her larvae to colourful flowers to attract our buzzing consume as they grow into her first bumblebees, it’s easy to forget about worker bees. With enough pollen the sometimes, less glamorous trees collected, the queen will lay her first and shrubs. However, they can provide eggs and spend the next few weeks a vital source of sustenance for incubating her brood. This takes up bumblebees at times where access to a lot of energy and she will have to other food sources might be scarce, venture out to replenish her nectar and can offer the perfect nesting site reserves, which she does by going opportunities. An abandoned mammal back-and-forth to nearby flowers, hole at the base of a shrub, or the so it’s especially important to have vacant bird box up in the tree can be oh a good source of energy in close so appealing to a queen bumblebee on proximity to the nest at this time. After the hunt. around two weeks, the larvae spin a cocoon, inside which they develop Early spring is a great time to begin into adult bees. planting your trees and shrubs to help look after our precious pollinators throughout the year (and in subsequent years), ensuring all periods within the bumblebee life cycle are catered for. This list is by no means exhaustive, but will hopefully provide an idea or two.

Photos: Inset Blackthorn (Prunus 4 spinosa); Apple (Malus domestica) Summer Spring Throughout early summer the first brood Common hawthorn (Crataegus (all female ‘workers’) will busily be monogyna) carrying out nest duties. Some cleaning, Common holly (Ilex aquifolium) – some guarding and some foraging the also flowers into the summer much-needed nectar and pollen to feed Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum) other hungry workers and the next batch of offspring. As summer unfolds, new Bird cherry (Prunus padus) queens and males are also produced Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) to allow the colony to reproduce. The Medlar (Mespilus germanica) males leave the nest, seldom returning. Common plum (Prunus domestica) The new queens also leave the nest to mate, at this stage it is imperative that Crab apple (Malus sylvestris) these new queens have good sources of European pear (Pyrus communis) pollen and nectar to gorge on in order to Apple (Malus domestica) store up enough energy for their winter of Pussy Willow (Salix caprea) – the hibernation ahead. catkins are a magnet for queen bumblebees Autumn & Winter Winter flowering heather (Erica For the majority of bumblebee species, carnea) nests naturally come to an end as summer does. However, in warmer Summer parts of the UK, Buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) persist and fully Dog rose (Rosa canina) active winter colonies of this species Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus agg) have been recorded, even with Common raspberry (Rubus idaeus) temperatures close to freezing and California Lilac (Ceanothus) snow on the ground. Therefore, it is vital that they have enough late flowering Bay tree (Laurus nobilis) – good for sustenance available to survive the harsh short-tongued bumblebees conditions. Buddleia (Buddleja davidii) These trees and shrubs are not only Red barked dogwood (Cornus alba) bumblebee-friendly but will also provide Lavender (Lavandula) vital habitat for a whole host of other wildlife and pollinators. Additionally, in Autumn & Winter many cases, trees and shrubs can also be under-planted with other flowering Mahonia (Mahonia aquifolium; plants such as hellebores to add further apollo variety) benefit. And if you’re worried that you Winter flowering honeysuckle simply don’t have enough space in your (Lonicera fragrantissima) garden to be planting trees, there are Winter flowering cherry trees plenty of dwarf varieties that can be (Prunus subhirtella) grown in patio pots – and in the world of bumblebees, every little helps! 5 Why your membership is By Claire Wales, Support important to bumblebees Services Officer

Your membership is vital. It helps Why remain a member? to fund and support our work to Our aim is to work together and we conserve habitats, raise awareness hope you will continue to support the and influence policies to support conservation of bumblebees for bumblebees. years to come and inspire Our vision remains friends and family to firmly focused do the same. We are on creating immensely proud of communities and our achievements countryside rich during the past 10 in bumblebees years, which include and colourful the creation of over wildflowers, 3,000 hectares of supporting a bumblebee friendly diversity of wildlife habitat, Bee Walk, for everyone to enjoy. launch of our Bee ID You make this happen. app, workshops and much more! We couldn’t What your money supports have done any of this without your continued support and a belief Your membership payments provide that between us, we can inspire and the money required for our ‘core’ educate our future generations to activities. We all want to help appreciate just how vital bumblebees bumblebees and in addition to our are to our ecosystems and our general amazing conservation and advisory well-being. efforts, there is a small but dedicated team ‘running the organisation’ in the Planting pots and borders with bee- background. ‘Core’ activities are the friendly plants can have a significant overhead costs as opposed to those impact for bumblebees specific to a project such as Bee Wild and other pollinators, West Wales. These activities are vital providing them with in ensuring the charity is fit for purpose vital food resources so that it can continue to deliver its in urban areas, as conservation and awareness raising well as bringing goals, which just wouldn’t be possible colour and life into without your support. our gardens.

Photos: White-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum) Annelise Emmans Dean; 6 Tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) David Mackenzie. Do you want to see your advert here? If you would like to advertise a business or an event in our next Buzzword magazine, or a future edition, please contact us for rates and further information at: media@ bumblebee conservation.org

Thank you

7 Companion planting - opportunities for bumblebees By Sinead Lynch, Conservation Officer, Wales

What if I told you that there is a sustainable way of farming which is good for the environment, and produces as much food as commercial farming but better quality? Sounds too good to be true? Maybe it isn’t.

I’ve been really excited to start reading maintain these systems. And in the current more about what I’m going to call economic and political climate it may be ‘companion planting’, it’s about growing wise for farmers, particularly smaller scale different crops/plants together to optimise farmers, to be have lower inputs to their the way in which they use different niches farms and be more self-sufficient. and provide added benefits. This idea can And it seems that quietly there may be a be adapted to a wide range of agricultural shift happening towards more sustainable situations. Much of this information I have farming methods. After all, there are lots gleaned from working with farmers from of benefits to the farmer, not least from the the Calon Wen organic dairy cooperative, fact that they will have lower inputs from reading research from EU-wide projects chemicals such as fertilisers and herbicides such as MultiSward (www.multisward. and are therefore less susceptible to the eu/multisward_eng) and from talking vagaries of the market. The crops they with experts such as Ian Wilkinson from are growing, whether they are a multi- Cotswold Seeds and Andrew Howard – a species grazing sward (upper layer of soil farmer and Nuffield Scholar. or expanse of short grass) or a combination It is generally acknowledged that most of crops, will help them to be more resilient intensive commercial methods of farming to weather conditions and the changing are not sustainable in their current form. climate. For multi-species grazing swards, It’s not just that they can be extremely there are added benefits – not only do the environmentally damaging in a whole raft livestock like to graze on the wide range of of ways, but also because we will at some plants in the sward, but it’s also good for point run out of the resources required to them – for example, Bird’s-foot trefoil can 8 help to treat worms. And the livestock are as multi-species swards could become taking on a variety of vitamins and minerals a more prominent part of agriculture in in their diet, which means that the quality the UK. He said that demand for such of the product (meat/dairy) is improved. seed mixtures has grown massively in Amazingly enough, these systems of the last few years, and farmers who have farming are not new. I was surprised to switched have stuck with those systems. hear Andrew Howard, a Nuffield Scholar Ian suggests that the yield can be as good and farmer, talk about how even 5,000 as, if not better than, commercial farming years ago the native Americans would grow techniques – he cites ‘over-yielding’ where crops together called the ‘Three Sisters’: multiple species growing together can sweetcorn, climbing beans and pumpkins or be more productive than one crop alone squash. The three grow perfectly together, because they are utilising different niches. providing three crops from one plot. The The MultiSward research seems to confirm low-growing pumpkin would even help to this. One of the barriers to getting more shade out weeds! farmers to take this up is that it is very knowledge intensive, and there is very And in fact the idea of animals grazing on little help and guidance out there to help a variety of herbs and grasses is certainly farmers switch. There may also be any not new. I have heard many farmers in number of practical barriers to a farmer Wales tell me that on their farms there used changing their farm system ie changes in to be a ‘Maes Meddyg’ – a doctors field – livestock rotation. which was typically a flower-rich paddock used to graze sick animals, because it was I think the devil may be in the detail here understood that the herbs and grasses – the opportunities for bumblebees within would help the animal recover. And this these farming systems will need further was recognised across much of the UK and consideration, including in terms of which Europe. species may benefit, and how the farm could be managed in order to optimise In an article last year, I wrote about its benefits. There is no substitute for my work with Calon Wen, and how the creating, restoring and enhancing natural legumes – members of the pea family such habitats for bumblebees, particularly in as Clovers, Lucerne, Sainfoin, Peas and areas where we are working to conserve Beans – provide foraging opportunities for rare species. However, looking for bumblebees. Many of these ‘companion opportunities to make the wider landscape planting’ systems use legumes. Clover is more bee-friendly – and less like a green an important agricultural crop because it desert – is an important part of what we helps to fix nitrogen in the soil. Peas and aim to do at the Trust. beans are often grown in combination with a grain such as corn. Bird’s-foot trefoil, as mentioned above, may be included in grassland mixes. And it just so happens, that bumblebees love legumes. And it’s not just the legumes – flowers such as Thanks Chicory are often included in grazing and ley mixtures. To the members of Calon Wen organic dairy cooperative, Ian Wilkinson from When I spoke to Ian Wilkinson from Cotswold Seeds and Andrew Howard Cotswold Seeds, I asked him whether he for their very valuable input. thought ‘companion planting’ systems such 9 Meadow maintenance – the Green Bee way!

By Katy Malone, Conservation Officer, Scotland

A vital part of annual meadow maintenance involves removing the cut 180grass. Doing this reduces the amount of nutrients returned to the soil, which creates conditions that encourage more wildflowers, which are more tolerant of these conditions than grasses. Too many nutrients in the soil, means that grasses often grow too vigorously and crowd out the tender wildflowers. The Major Green Bee 180 flail collector mower

Perhaps even more importantly, it also offsite. This purchase is a significant prevents dead grass forming a thatch legacy for our project work in the layer on top of the soil, which wildflower far north, where populations of the seedlings can struggle to get through. rare Great yellow bumblebee are still If this thatch is allowed to build up, the clinging on to the mainland. The Great only plants that can push their way yellow is a meadow specialist, so it through in the spring are the thugs – is essential that these special sites the rushes, docks and nettles - which are well managed. It took us some quickly start to dominate. time to research which would be the best machine to purchase and it was In March 2016, we purchased a mower (honestly!) quite by chance that this collector machine with a grant from model, the Green Bee 180, turned out the Postcode Community Trust for to be the perfect for our needs. It must use on community sites in and around have been fate working in our favour – Caithness. This tractor-mounted grass let’s hope it continues that way! mower cuts and collects the grass in a single pass, depositing the cuttings in a hopper which can be emptied either onto the ground at a composting site, or tipped into a trailer to be taken

A cut meadow site at Dunnet 10 Community Forest, Caithness. Meet our new trustees! Welcome Nick & Stuart

Nick Mann escaped from the City in Stuart Roberts is a Cambridge educated 2008, setting up Habitat Aid Ltd, a scientist and Visiting Research Fellow company which promotes and sells at the Centre for Agri-Environmental British plants and seeds sourced Research at the University of Reading. from a community of small specialist He has been studying various UK nurseries and growers. Habitat aspects of bee biology, ecology and Aid Ltd, gives financial support to biogeography both in the UK and conservation charities, including the elsewhere for some 30 years and Trust, for whom Nick has already was heavily involved in both the BAP volunteered at gardening shows too. process and the Species Recovery Programme in the 1990’s. Nick travels widely around the country for work and his particular Stuart served as Chairman of the highly interest is unimproved grassland. respected UK Bees Wasps & Ants He has an ethical approach to Recording Society (BWARS) from 2005- business, combined with a practical 2010. understanding of the challenges small He was one of the driving forces organizations face. Nick knows this behind the European Red List for will be useful for the Trust, which he Bees (published in 2015) and has admires for its enthusiasm and ability presented on threats to bees and to get things done. Nick said, “it is drivers of change across the UK, and important that we have specialist at conferences in India, Argentina, the science based conservation charities USA and widely across the like the Trust, which inform both policy EU. He has always been makers and the general public”. an advocate of large-scale Nick lives in Somerset collaborative work and in where he’s a beekeeper and bringing together the voluntary gardener in his spare time. sector and the academic community.

11 We’re often asked what we do during the winter months after bumblebee season draws to a close. The answer is simple! A huge amount . . some of our staff have provided a small insight.

Dr Nikki Gammans, Conservation Manager, Short-haired bumblebee project ‘Bumblebees - an introduction’! - co- ordinating, editing and co-writing the new Bumblebee Conservation Trust book for beginners, plus organising the up and coming field season for the Short-haired bumblebee project; setting the dates for bumblebee blitz days, plans for habitat management and which farmers and land owners to visit.

Sinead Lynch, Conservation Officer, Bee Wild West Wales Planning consultation events in Penparcau (Aberystwyth) and Tumble (Llanelli) which took place in February. Following these events we’re hoping to have completed some planting in March! Working on developing projects such as the ‘Pollinating the Levels’ project which will be part of a big ‘Living levels’ Heritage Lottery Winter Fund project being led by RSPB, as well as a project with Calon Wen organic dairy cooperative. The A highlight, has been attending the working Oxford Real Farming Conference, where I learned plenty of new points about sustainable farming methods. Finally, my meeting with Steffan Lewis wonderland AM, who is the Species Champion for Dawn Shrill carder bee (Bombus sylvarum) for the Welsh Assembly. 12 2016 Helen Dickinson, Surveys & GIS Officer Planning and organising early spring workshops in Central Scotland and preparing specimens for ID training. Giving talks to local natural history groups. Writing content for the BeeWalk annual report, updating BeeWalk volunteer and transect databases, matching new BeeWalkers with un-walked transects. Various GIS (geographical information system) mapping activities, producing updated species distribution maps for our upcoming bumblebee book, providing maps and data to our Conservation Officer for project reports - and breathe!

Cathy Horsley, Conservation Darryl Cox, Science & Policy Officer Officer, West Country Buzz After the whirlwind that is summer working at West Country Buzz has been the Trust, winter is a time when we can catch out and about over the beautiful our breaths, reflect on how the year has gone South West countryside, working and consider how we can improve things. I with farmers to provide food, tend to do more development work during nests and shelter for bumblebees. this time, writing new content for articles, Winter is the perfect time for newsletters and the website. Last year we looking over land management spent time creating a new nest leaflet to help plans, and we’re helping farmers inform people about what to do when they to find ways to include pollinators. find a nest. This leaflet is great to give people Many are already doing an the essential need-to-know information and impressive amount, such as has helped us deal with one of our most careful hedgerow management to common summer enquiries more efficiently. encourage flowers, and leaving areas of long grass to make vital nesting space. You can keep up to date with the project on our website, or follow us on twitter @BuzzingDevon.

Dr. Richard Comont, Science Manager Winter starts as a time to catch up with everything that didn’t get done during the field season and ends with preparation for spring, the busiest time of year. Pre-Christmas was mostly a blur of presentations for the AGM and reports for the final board meeting of the year; January so far has been spent sorting out the previous year’s BeeWalk data. Next on the agenda is budgeting for the year ahead and writing workplans, plus, most excitingly, doing analysis and writing BeeWalk’s first ever Annual Report. 2016 13 Bumblebee Books (new & old)

Write for a copy of our bee book list · In stock are: Benton. NN98. Bumblebees. £60·00 Bumblebee (children)Wilson & Kennaway. £11·99 Corbet/Prys-Jones. Bumblebees. hb. (3rd edition) £19·95 Benton. Bumbles of Essex. hb. £18·50 Goulson – Bumblebees 2nd Ed. (2009). pb. £29·95 Sladen. The Humble-Bee. hb. £14·95 Kearns & Thomson. Natural History of Bumblebees. £20·99 Edwards & Jenner. Field Guide to Bumblebees Follow us on: (best for ID). £13·99 Facebook.com Bumblebee Poster (22 species in colour). £4·50 Bumblebee-conservation-trust (£7·95 in a tube) Plus numerous new and second hand bee Twitter.com @BumblebeeTrust books. SAE appreciated. @BuzzingPeak

Ash View, Tump Lane, Much Birch, Instagram.com Herefordshire HR2 8HP • Tel: 01981 540907 Bumblebeeconservationtrust Leaving a Legacy

Remembering the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in your Will is a special way to support the future of Britain’s bumblebees. A gift to us in your Will would leave a lasting legacy, which will help create communities and countryside rich in colourful wildflowers and bees, supporting a diversity of wildlife and habitats for everyone to enjoy. After providing for those you care for, please consider leaving just a small proportion of what’s left over to support the future of Britain’s bumblebees. Every gift, regardless of size counts. We appreciate that leaving a gift in a Will is a very personal decision and we promise to respect you and your choices. For more information, please contact: [email protected]

14 New book! Coming soon ‘Bumblebees - An introduction’

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust and an easy to use identification guide, is delighted to announce its first all with enjoyment at its core. publication! Written and produced The identification pages will by the Trust, titled ‘Bumblebees - an feature some of the most colourful introduction’ we will be launching in photography from the UK’s best summer 2017! bumblebee photographers including The book is a beginners guide to photographs by Heather Angel. bumblebees and what you need This book is unique in as much as to know; covering their ecology it is the first bumblebee book to be and identifying all the UK species. published which includes both ecology Beautifully written and illustrated with and identification at a beginners level. vibrant photography, it is suitable for all ages from 12 years. Topics featured We are very excited about the launch include aspects of bumblebee biology, of our first book during the summer the importance of pollination and sadly of 2017 and all profits will go to bumblebee declines. We provide conserving the UK’s bumblebees and guidance in how to help, how to survey the Trust’s ongoing conservation work.

Details of the publication date, stockists and cost will be provided nearer the date. We are confident this book will appeal to every age group and one you will want to add to your bookcase! We are looking forward to sharing it soon!

Photos (top): Brown-banded carder bee worker (Bombus humilis) (bottom):White-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum) 15 Solitary Bees

By Rosie Earwaker, Data Manager for RSPB

It’s the time of year now when we will be hearing the ‘buzz’ of the queen bumblebee, freshly emerged from hibernation and on the lookout for a suitable place to nest. That’s not the only thing to get excited about though! There’s a whole other world of bees out there waiting to be discovered: the solitary bees. These little creatures can be found from as early as February and as spring gets going, there are plenty of different ones to spot. What can I find in my garden? Yellow-legged Mining bee (Andrena flavipes) – along with the other mining In early spring, some common solitary bees, these quite like a dandelion. With bees to look out for are: their striped abdomen and yellow legs, Tawny Mining bee (Andrena fulva) – the females are very distinctive. bold, ginger-haired females. Nests are like mini volcanoes of soil – look out for Fooled you! them in your lawn. As well as these, there are some bees Red Mason bee (Osmia bicornis) – that you might come across that you common resident of bee hotels, you wouldn’t necessarily think were bees; may spot the females bringing mud to they appear more wasp-like. Some of the nest to complete each cell. these are cuckoo bees, sneaking into Ashy Mining bee (Andrena cineraria) - black and white striped, often found foraging on fruit tree blossom. Hairy-footed Flower bee (Anthophora plumipes) – lovers of Lungwort, these round bees look like small bumblebees and zip around with considerable speed. 16 the nests of other bees where they lay Bee hotels are a great way to attract their eggs. Others are the tiny yellow- bees to nest in your garden, but also faced bees, which instead of collecting to observe them. Place these in south- pollen on specialised hairs on their facing, sunny situations. If you’re body, ingest it. These bees are not making your own, you can use bamboo generally very hairy, so different from canes, or drill holes into wood. Make the ‘fluffy’ bees that we may be more sure the holes aren’t too big though used to. – our British bees aren’t big enough to use anything above about 10mm How can I attract solitary bees diameter. Not all bees will use bee to my garden? hotels, with some preferring to make their own nesting burrows in wood, and Availability of flowers is usually what is many others nesting in the soil so keep focused on when we think about what an eye out for these species too! For we can do for bees, but it’s not just food further information on how to make your that’s important; we also need to think own bee hotel and provide homes for about where they nest. bees, visit homes.rspb.org.uk. With the earliest solitary bees – like Rosie Earwaker works as a Data the Early Mining bee (Andrena Manager for RSPB, spending time clarkella) – appearing in February mapping and managing species and the latest ones persisting records, as well as carrying out survey sometimes into November – the Ivy and monitoring work on plants and bee (Colletes hederae) – one of the key invertebrates. She is RSPB’s lead considerations when choosing plants for on the Shrill Carder bee (Bombus your garden is their flowering time. Will sylvarum), working closely with the there be something flowering in every Trust to conserve this bumblebee. The month throughout this period? The other Trust works in partnership with RSPB key consideration is the type of plant. on a number of projects, including the Some bees are not too fussy about the Short-haired bumblebee reintroduction pollen they collect, while others may project and the forthcoming Making a collect it from one specific type of plant, Buzz for the Coast project. or a group of plants. Have you got a Clockwise, from top left: Ashy Mining bee (Andrena range of different plant families? Some cineraria); a cuckoo bee (Nomada goodeniana); good ones include plants in the rose, Hairy-footed Flower bee (Anthophora plumipes); daisy and cabbage families. Tawny Mining bee (Andrena fulva) Images credited to: Will George.

17 AGM News AGM & Members’ day

Saturday 10 December 2016 Gill Perkins, CEO

The Trust’s 10th AGM and Members’ Day was an extra special event, celebrating not only our 10th birthday but our milestone achievement of reaching our 10,000 member target! The event was held on Saturday 10 December 2016 at the London Wetland Centre, ‘an urban oasis for wildlife and people’, with 110 attendees, which included members, guests, Kate MacRae, Guest Speaker staff and volunteers. Our CEO, Gill Perkins, opened the day with musings of her childhood spent in a changing countryside, and urged everyone to try to reconnect with nature and ‘Bee the revolution’ by spreading the word about the plight of the bumblebee. Gill thanked our members, who are keeping this important cause alive. Professor Michael Usher opened the AGM, with Valerie Mayo, 10,000th member an overview of the Trust’s highlights of 2015- 16, which included our successes in securing scientific evidence for practical conservation work and for influencing policies, plans and strategies. He also gave thanks to retiring trustee Professor Jane Stout, who for the last three years has been hugely instrumental in developing the Irish pollinator strategy and will be missed. You Steven Falk artwork can view the AGM minutes and results at: www. bumblebeeconservation.org/governance After the official business was concluded, the day moved on to an overview of the exciting projects currently underway, including ‘Making a Buzz’, ‘Pollinating the Peak’, ‘BeeWild West Wales’, ‘Short-haired bumblebee reintroduction’, ‘Thurso: Gateway to the Great Yellow’ and the BeeWalk monitoring scheme. Rhodri Green for Pollinating the 18 Peak project Professor Pete Hollingsworth, who is a Trustee as well as Director of Science at Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, gave a fascinating insight into DNA bar coding and Environmental DNA (eDNA). The future looks exciting with an app being During the break we enjoyed chatting developed for phones, which, when with our members from far and wide, aimed at a species will have the ability and as well as the Trust’s merchandise, to ID exactly what it is! we were delighted to welcome back We held a special certificate Steven Falk, who brought copies of his presentation ceremony, to recognise book and beautiful prints to sell. This the contribution of four people; Ron year, high quality gifts were donated Rock, James Riall, Allan Watson and for a raffle, including work from notable Chris Hardy, who have gone above artists Kurt Jackson, Jessica Albarn, and beyond to help bumblebees. Lastly Sarah Jane Bellwood, and Daniel of course, we wanted to celebrate our Mackie. We also had an interesting 10,000th member, Valerie Mayo from information stall run by our Pollinating Surrey. the Peak staff. The day finished with our ‘Question This year’s theme was about gardening Time’ session, where attendees had and we were fortunate to have special the opportunity to pose questions to guest speaker, Kate MacRae (known our panel of staff and Kate MacRae. as ‘Wildlife Kate’), who has appeared on BBC’s Springwatch and Countryfile Thank you to those who attended, as programmes. Kate led us through the well as the staff and volunteers who story of moving into her new home in made the day run smoothly. Litchfield on a large plot of land and We appreciate the lovely feedback we how she transformed the land into received in the word cloud above! a wildlife haven. Kate gave tips and tricks for creating different habitats for We are currently planning the 11th different creatures and ended her talk AGM and Members’ Day, which by showing us the results of her many is scheduled for October 2017 in nest box cameras set up to capture the York and we hope to see you there! different creatures that were enjoying Further information will be available their new homes – including a dancing on our website soon at www. squirrel! For more information on Kate, bumblebeeconservation.org/agm. please visit her website: www.wildlifekate.co.uk

19 Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Parkway House Business Centre, Eastleigh Works, Campbell Road, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO50 5AD. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is a registered charity (England & Wales 1115634 / Scotland