Bumblebees
In the UK we have 24 native species of bumblebee, of which 9 have been identified in our parks and nature reserves in Milton Keynes.
Unlike their relative, the honeybee, bumblebees do not make honey, as they don’t store food over the winter. Bumblebees have an annual life cycle. Each year a queen bumblebee will emerge from hibernation in the spring and find a good nest to raise a colony of sterile female workers. The worker bees forage for nectar and pollen from flowers to feed the growing colony and help to raise a new queen and male bees. The new queen mates and then they find somewhere safe to hibernate throughout the winter, emerging the following spring to begin the cycle again. (photo of Early bumblebee).
Why are bumblebees under threat?
Of our native bumblebee species, three are now believed to be extinct, and many others are in long-term decline. This has been driven predominantly by large-scale changes in countryside management. Since the 1930s, agricultural intensification and urban development have caused significant losses and fragmentation of flower-rich meadows across the UK. 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost since the Second World War. The widespread use of pesticides such as neonicotinoids, applied to control crop pests and weeds, has also had detrimental impacts on bee populations. Poor weather conditions due to climate change have also contributed to the reduced survival rates of wild bee populations in the UK. (image of Red-tailed bumblebee).
How can you help bumblebees?
With dwindling habitat in rural areas, our urban green spaces are increasingly recognised as important refuges for bumblebees and other wild pollinators. Whether you have a window box, allotment or a large garden, planting bee-friendly flowers can help to boost your local bumblebee population.
What is The Parks Trust doing to help pollinators?
The Parks Trust has team of volunteers that carry out regular bumblebee surveys in the spring and summer months to record the species diversity and volume in our parks. Collecting data on the health of our local bumblebee populations helps to inform and implement better pollinator management in our parks and nature reserves. In recent years, we have increased the number of wildflower meadows across the city. These spaces provide an important food source for bumblebees and other insects. We are also working hard to reduce our use of herbicides, using and trialling alternative methods where we can.
Why are bees so important?
All bumblebees feed on nectar from flowers, and in the process of visiting the flowers, they move pollen between different flowers on the same or different plants. This process is called pollination, and it is a hugely important job. Much of the food we eat relies on crops that are pollinated by insects like bumblebees. Without bumblebees many of our plants wouldn’t produce the fruits and vegetables that we eat or the seeds that plants need to reproduce. (image of Buff-Tailed bumblebee)
Like all bees, bumblebees have a modified egg-laying device called an ovipositor. If a female bumblebee feels threatened, it may use its ovipositor and venom to sting. However, bumblebees are usually not aggressive, and they rarely sting unless they feel threatened. The sting of a bumblebee is not barbed like a honeybee's, so bumblebees can use their sting more than once. It is only females that are able to sting, as males do not have an ovipositor, making them harmless. Despite their reputation for stinging, this is not their first line of defence. When you first approach a bumblebee, you are more likely to see it roll over onto its back and wave its legs at you! (image of Common carder bumblebee).