The National Bumblebee Nest Survey

Home page Report Bumblebee identification key at the Natural History Museum

Male Bombus lucorum

Why did we conduct a survey?

Bumblebees are among the UK's best known insects, and there can be few people who haven't seen and heard them visiting flowers in the summer. Most gardens are visited by at least one species, and so they appear to be common. However, during the last few decades, the range of many species has declined, so that only six species are now common over much of the UK. Some formerly widespread species are restricted to the north and west of Britain, and others to the far south of England.

Like all bees, bumblebees eat only pollen and nectar from flowers, and we know quite a lot about their tastes. Different bumblebee species like different flowers and they need a continual succession of flowers within range of their nests throughout the spring, summer and early autumn. Apart from food, bumblebees also require sites where they can nest. We know a bit about where they like to nest as well, but not enough to clearly advise landowners, farmers and gardeners on how best to provide nesting sites. This survey should help us to find out exactly how important different types of habitat, such as gardens, hedgerows, grassland, or woodland are as nesting sites for bumblebees, and whether different species have particular preferences.

Who ran the survey?

Bee scientists at Rothamsted have designed this survey as part of a three year project, in collaboration with Universities of Newcastle and Southampton, studying bumblebee ecology in the agricultural landscape (funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council). The survey is also an activity for National Insect Week, 14-20 June 2004 (organised by the Royal Entomological Society), and is being run in conjunction with BBC Wildlife Magazine.

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