Bumblebee Conservation Trust Interview

The Bumbleebee Conservation Trust is creating a buzz in the wildlife world with it's work in protecting Bumblebees, vitally important insects, that are a barometer for a healthy natural environment. We asked Natasha Rolph, Education and Outreach Officer a few questions!

What are the aims of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust?

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust was founded in 2005, in response to growing concerns about the 'plight of the bumblebee'. We aim to prevent further declines, and to raise awareness of the problems bumblebees face.

Bumblebees need small patches of wildflowers here and there in field corners, margins, gardens, waste ground, roadside verges and motorway embankments. Alongside working to restore the bumblebee’s natural habitats, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust also places great importance on education and awareness, reaching out to all generations and people from all walks of life.

What plants do you recommend for attracting bumblebees?

Bluebell

Bugle

Rosemary

Pussy willow

Dead-nettle

Flowering currant

Lungwort

Winter flowering heather

Aquilegia

Foxglove

Laburnum

Comfrey

Geranium

Lupin

Campanula

Monkshood

Ceanothus

Bird’s foot trefoil

Chives

Thyme

Cotoneaster

Everlasting pea

Honeysuckle

Everlasting wallflower

Sage

Viper’s bugloss

Catmint Lesser knapweed

Buddleia Lavender

Cornflower Rock-rose

Centaurea Scabious

Delphinium Marjoram

Escallonia Sea Holly

Hollyhock Sunflower

Heathers Phacelia tanacetifolia

Can you tell us a bit about Bumblebees, how many types of them are there in the UK etc?

There are 24 species of bumblebee in the UK all of which have declined in numbers in the last half century. Bumblebees are fascinating and beautiful creatures that deserve conserving in their own right. However, there are also pressing ecological and economic reasons to halt their declines.

Bumblebees are major pollinators of a majority of our wildflowers. If this wonderful little invertebrate continues to disappear, a vast number of our native wildflowers will set less seed which will result in sweeping changes to the countryside. Bumblebees are keystone species and they should be a conservation priority. Bumblebees are also of enormous commercial importance. Many arable and horticultural crops depend on bumblebees for pollination to varying degrees. In total the value of Europe's insect pollinators is estimated at €14.2 billion!

What is the current situation regarding bumblebees, what threats are they facing?

Bumblebees are among the most captivating and familiar of our insects. Sadly, changes to the farmed countryside have not been kind to our bumblebees and astonishingly the number of species found in most of lowland Britain has halved since 1950. Within the last 70 years two bumblebee species have become nationally extinct and further extinctions may follow in the near future unless we act quickly!

The reason that bumblebees have declined in the countryside is simple. Bees feed exclusively on pollen and nectar, and as we manage our land so much more intensely, there are now far fewer flowers in the countryside than there once were.

What can people do to help bumblebees in their local areas?

Plant lots of bumblebee friendly plants!!

If you wish to have happy bees, most annual bedding plants are best avoided: for example Pelargonium, Begonia, busy lizzies, pansies, petunias, lobelias and the like have been subjected to extreme artificial selection by plant breeders to produce larger, more spectacular blooms in a huge variety of colours, but in the process the flowers have often lost the vital nectar that attracts bees, or the shape of the flower has become so deformed that insects can no longer reach the nectar or pollen. In extreme cases the flowers are sterile and produce no pollen at all. Double varieties with extra sets of petals are often impossible for insects to get in to: this is very obvious with some types of rose.

Old-fashioned cottage garden flowers such as aquilegia, geraniums, globe thistles and borage are generally far better. There are countless useful culinary herbs too: for example lavender, chives, marjoram, sage and rosemary are all loved by bees. Herbs and other cottage garden flowers are often very similar to the wild flowers from which they originated, and so have not lost their natural link with their pollinators. They are also pretty robust, easy to grow, and most are perennials so that you do not have to plant them every year. Most grow well in a traditional herbaceous border, while if you have only a small space they will grow well in pots on a patio or even in a window box.

Bumblebees and their young eat only nectar and pollen, and so are entirely dependent on an adequate supply of the right kinds of flowers through the year. Thus to provide the perfect environment for bumblebees in the garden it is important to ensure that there are suitable plants flowering throughout the bumblebee season (from March to August). The greater the number of suitable flowering plants in your garden, the better it will please our bumblebees!

Do you have any recommended organic products or practices to use in gardening rather than pesticides and insecticides?

I’m afraid we don’t know of any particular products however it’s also worth bringing up the age-old debate regarding insecticide use in our gardens. If you do decide to use them, it’s certainly best to avoid spraying them near flowering plants. There are actually very few situations in which it is necessary to use insecticides in a garden; left to nature, natural enemies such as ladybirds, hoverflies, ground beetles, lacewings and wasps will usually consume troublesome aphids or caterpillars before long, but if you wipe them out with insecticides you can expect worse pest problems in the very near future.

You have created the world's first bumblee sanctuary. Can you tell us a bit about it and what impact has it had on bumblee populations in the area?

Although unfortunately the area wasn’t surveyed in order to study before and after populations it was clear when walking through the area, that the project was a great success with the whole place buzzing with pollinators! Another great outcome was the appearance of the less common bilberry bumblebee, which came down from the upland areas to feed during the summer when there was little to forage on nearer their nest sites.

How can people support the Bumblebee conservation Trust?

To learn more about the fascinating world of bumblebees or to join The Bumblebee Conservation trust please check out www.bumblebeeconservation.org.

Thompson & Morgan pollinator plants for sale HERE

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