Short-haired Bumblebee Reintroduced to UK

The Short-haired Bumblebee Bombus subterraneus has been unseen in the UK for 25 years so a successful reintroduction is welcome news. Over the last two years conservationists have made two releases of short-haired bumblebee queens at the RSPB Reserve in Dungeness, Kent - about 90 minutes by car from Brighton. This has been an attempt to establish a viable breeding population and seven young worker bees have been recorded this year in a 4 sq km area.

Bombus subterraneus

Dr Nikki Gammans leads the project. She said recently: "This is a milestone...and a real victory for conservation. We now have proof that this bumblebee has nested and hatched young and we hope it is on the way to becoming a self-supporting wild species in the UK once again."

The short-haired bumblebee has not been seen in the UK since 1988 and was declared extinct in 2000. The species was once widespread across the south of England, feeding on wildflowers such as white dead-nettle and red clover. The short-haired bumblebee numbers declined in the second half of the 20th century as wildflower-rich grassland was lost to intensively farmed land.

In 2009 scientists tried to transport queens from New Zealand but the colony lacked genetic diversity and many of the queens died in quarantine. The bees that have been released under this new project were collected from southern Sweden where the species is doing much better as fewer people live there and farming practices are more bee-friendly.

Conservationists have spent the last three years preparing the land at Dungeness. They collected locally grown clover seed and spread it across the grasslands. This was followed by grazing the area sensitively with cattle and sheep. It appears that the work is also helping other endangered bee species in the local area such as the Shrill Carder Bee.

Long may this successful project continue.