Bumblebee ID Workshop
As a sequel to the Sphagnum moss workshop that we did with the Moors for the Future, 15 of us headed to Longshaw Estate on Saturday to learn how to identify and survey bumblebees.
Loss of flowers for foraging, loss of suitable nest sites and use of pesticides have led to the rapid decline of many bumblebee species in Britain. Bumblebees are better pollinators than any other species of bees because they can travel up to 2km from their nests in search of flowers and their tongues are much varied. Hence, it is essential to save them. For this reason, Moors for the Future has initiated surveys to note down the abundance of bumblebees around England. They have chosen three species which are easy to identify and will be interesting to track in response to climate change. The morning session gave us pointers to identify these three bumblebee species and a few others commonly found in the area.
In the afternoon, we took a walk around Longshaw Estate in search of some bees. Since it is quite early for them to come out of hibernation, we could spot only two. However, the weather was sunny and everyone had a great time!
