Bumblebee Workshop

Workshop participants on Thurstaston beach

Carl Clee led a workshop on bumblebees and their lifestyles, with some straying into solitary bees and mining bees. The 6 or 7 common bumble bees are relatively easy to tell apart by their stripes, so hopefully we can all do them now.

There used to be 6 common ones - but the Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) has spread spectacularly across England in the last decade, having colonised from the Continent, and now reached the Scottish border. It is early-flying, and there were plenty out in Wirral on those spring and early summer days when it was not driving rain. On the other hand, the formerly common Garden Bumblebee seems to be declining, along with many of its rarer cousins. Records from volunteers are very important in tracking changes like this.

After lunch, the group went looking for bees along the bottom of the clay cliffs at Thurstaston. Despite cool weather and a sharp shower just beforehand, a reasonable number of bumbles were found, including new queens of 2 species. Mining bee holes were seen in the cliffs - but their inhabitants had decided to rest in the warm and were not flying.

Garden Bumblebee. Photo: Wikipedia

The weather is proving very difficult for all flying insects this year, and the bats and birds which depend on them. Let us know if you see good nunbers of bumblebees anywhere!