District Council, Thames Water. Thames Council, District Swale Borough Council, Thanet Thanet Council, Borough Swale Council, Natural England, RSPB, RSPB, England, Natural Council, Kent Wildlife Trust, Kent County County Kent Trust, Wildlife Kent Partners Design by Tim Griffiths Illustration. Griffiths Tim by Design Vivian Russell and Chris Wells. Chris and Russell Vivian (Bombus sylvestris) (Bombus Gammans, Christine Hall, Daisy Headley, Headley, Daisy Hall, Christine Gammans, bumblebee Stuart Andrews, Jo-anne Collier, Nikki Nikki Collier, Jo-anne Andrews, Stuart Forest cuckoo cuckoo Forest credits: Photo Follow us on us Follow funding, thanks to National Lottery players. Lottery National to thanks funding, Making a Buzz for the Coast received National Lottery Heritage Heritage Lottery National received Coast the for Buzz a Making www.bumblebeeconservation.org at website Trust Conservation Bumblebee the Visit your local area! local your (Bombus rupetris) (Bombus guided walks and other community events going on in in on going events community other and walks guided bumblebee Check out our events page for identification courses, courses, identification for page events our out Check Red-tailed cuckoo cuckoo Red-tailed (Bombus vestalis) (Bombus bumblebee Southern cuckoo cuckoo Southern of Kent Kent of your own garden and local green spaces. green local and garden own your often have smoky black/darkened wings. black/darkened smoky have often can also find tips on what you can do for bumblebees in in bumblebees for do can you what on tips find also can exposing the shiny exoskeleton. Cuckoo bumblebees will will bumblebees Cuckoo exoskeleton. shiny the exposing Bumblebees and more information on how to record bumblebees. You You bumblebees. record to how on information more and to their host, however they tend to appear less furry furry less appear to tend they however host, their to Visit our website for bumblebee identification resources resources identification bumblebee for website our Visit established nest. The cuckoo will often appear similar similar appear often will cuckoo The nest. established Want to know more? know to Want later than their host so they can lay their eggs in an an in eggs their lay can they so host their than later pollen. Female cuckoo bumblebees tend to emerges emerges to tend bumblebees cuckoo Female pollen. bumblebees have no pollen baskets and do not collect collect not do and baskets pollen no have bumblebees not produce workers. As there are no workers, cuckoo cuckoo workers, no are there As workers. produce not only produce breeding males and females, however do do however females, and males breeding produce only the host rear the young. Eggs laid by the cuckoo female female cuckoo the by laid Eggs young. the rear host the the nest of a social bumblebee host where the workers of of workers the where host bumblebee social a of nest the Cuckoo bumblebees, much like the bird, lay their eggs in in eggs their lay bird, the like much bumblebees, Cuckoo What are cuckoo bumblebees? cuckoo are What Bumblebees and the Garden of What are carder bumblebees? Identifying bumblebees England – What makes Kent so These species, nesting in areas of long vegetation such Kent is a very special county for its diversity of bumblebees. important? as tussocky grass, share a habit of combing (‘carding’) The following species are widespread throughout Kent and The UK has 24 species of bumblebee. Seven of these together material such as grass and moss to build a cover the UK. These are the most common bumblebees you will are classed as rare or scarce and have shown population for their nest. Four of the carder bumblebee species are frequently find in your gardens and greenspaces! declines. The main reason for this decline is the loss of rare and only one is widespread throughout the UK – the habitat; 97% of our wildflower meadows have been lost Common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum). The rarer since the 1930’s. Kent is one of the best counties in the species are associated with extensive areas of open UK for bumblebee species with 22 of the 24 UK species flower-rich grassland. Unlike the Common carder bee, being found here. Much of Kent’s cultural and economic which emerges from March, carder bee species tend to heritage is intrinsically linked to bees, with a landscape emerge from hibernation later from April/May. of orchards, arable flowering crops and grassland. Kent’s Recording bumblebees bumblebee diversity can be linked to its varied habitats Q W M Q W M We strongly recommend taking photographs of bumblebees and the milder southern climate. White-tailed bumblebee Garden bumblebee you find in order to help identify and to confirm sightings. Try Bombus lucorum Bombus hortorum Many rare and scarce bumblebees call Kent their home, to take several photographs from different angles, showing however these populations are often isolated and may banding, face, legs and tail. One of the best places to record be at risk of extinction unless action is taken. The Shrill wildlife is iRecord (www.brc.ac.uk/irecord). Here you can carder bee, one of the UK’s rarest bumblebees, is record ad hoc bumblebee records (ideally with pictures). found along the north Kent coastline and is a focus for Visit our website at www.bumblebeeconservation.org, to conservation effort. learn more about submitting records and surveying for bumblebees. To take bumblebee ID Q W M Q W M a step further, you will Buff-tailed bumblebee Tree bumblebee probably need to net and Bombus terrestris Bombus hypnorum pot the bee for closer examination, and use a hand lens to see features close up. Whilst a large proportion of bumblebees can be identified in the field, in the case of some rare bumblebees, field Q W M Q W M identification may not be Early bumblebee Red-tailed bumblebee possible. Bombus pratorum Bombus lapidarius (above) Oare Marsh; BeeWalk (right) Foreness Point If you enjoy bee identification and can spare a few hours once a month between March and October to walk a set route, why not join our national survey BeeWalk. You could be contributing to a much needed database of bumblebee records to help us monitor all bumblebee species and in turn aid their conservation. Visit www. Key Q W M Q Queen bumblebeeconservation.org/surveys/. W Worker Common carder bee M Male Bombus pascuorum Thames Estuary Rare & scarce An open landscape of grazing marshes and varied brownfield Shrill carder bee Bombus sylvarum bumblebees of Kent sites, linked by sea walls that provide an important corridor Description for rare bumblebees. This is a pale, straw-coloured Sheppey bumblebee, with a A mosaic of wetland, marshes and farming land broad black band providing forage and long grass nesting habitat for across the thorax Brown-banded carder bee and a reddish- Bombus humilis bumblebees. Cliffe Pools, orange tail which Description Hoo Peninsula can fade with age. An all-ginger The Shrill carder bumblebee. as the name might Queens, males and workers Thames Estuary suggest also has a noticeably higher-pitched ‘shrill’ are all similar in buzz than other bumblebees. Emerging later than appearance and Dartford many other bumblebees, you are most likely to see often have a darker queens from May onwards. Workers appear from mid-June and males and new queens can be seen brown band on the A2 Leysdown South Swale Reserve Mitton Creek well into September. This is one of the UK’s most abdomen which is Country Park & Saltwater Sea Walk the same colour 5 Isle of endangered bumblebee species. 2 as the hairs on Sheppey Margate Similar species the top of the thorax. There are no black hairs on the M Newly–emerged individuals are very distinctive. abdomen of this species but there are always a small Sittingborne Older, faded individuals can resemble a number of number of black hairs on the thorax, usually at the other bumblebee species including Early bumblebees wing bases. Whitstable Ramsgate (B. pratorum), which also has a red tail but has much Similar species brighter yellow banding. Common carder bee (B. pascuorum), Moss carder M bee (B. muscorum). M26 2 Thanet Chalk soils and cliffs provide excellent habitat for Moss carder bee Sandwich Bay both bumblebee and solitary bees. Bombus muscorum Description An all-ginger A bumblebee. When 2 fresh, this species has a distinctive chestnut-coloured Ruderal bumblebee thorax which Bombus ruderatus Kent Downs contrasts with paler Description One of the larger blonde hairs on AONB bumblebee species the sides. There in the UK and can are no black hairs Dover Short-haired bumblebee occur in a number M anywhere on the A 2 Bombus subterraneus of colour forms. In body of this species. Queens start to emerge from 2 0 1 the lighter colour May with workers seen from June onwards. Description form, queens, Folkestone Females and workers and males Confusion species males have Brown-banded (B. humilis) and Common carder bees are three banded different colour (B. pascuorum). with a yellow- patterns. Females black-yellow banded thorax, a yellow band at the have two yellow top of the abdomen and a pure white tail. However, bands on the Red-shanked bumblebee thorax, a top Bombus ruderarius bee-aware, this species also produces darker or all black individuals. High Weald abdominal band Description and a white tail. Similar species This scarce species B. hortorum), Short-haired AONB yellow with a black band between Malesthe wing are bases. lemon Garden bumblebees ( is very similar to ). Formerly widespread across Southern England, bumblebee (B.subterraneus the common Red- Dungeness this species underwent drastic declines and was tailed bumblebee last seen in the UK in 1988 at Dungeness. A (B.lapidarius) as reintroduction project began in 2009, and began both are black Rye releasing queens obtained from Sweden in 2012 with a red tail.