Un’bee’lievable

BUMBLEBEE NUMBERS INCREASE 100-FOLD ON SCOTTISH RE-WILDING SITE

It may be December, a time when traditionally queen bumblebees and many of our pollinators are hibernating, but a charity from Scotland have been buzzing to share their recently analysed statistics and a remarkable success story. Whilst it's well known that around the UK pollinator populations are plummeting, with 8 out of 24 UK bumblebees listed as conservation priorities, a project known as Rewilding Denmarkfield, a 90-acre site based just north of Perth has released numbers of Bumblebees showing an increase of over 100 times the numbers that were there just two years before.

Even though the project site was intensively farmed for years and has urban developments nearby, the charity says they have seen bumblebee abundance boom since they started rewilding and that this shows how pollinators can make a comeback if nature is given a chance.

"Back in 2021, when some of our fields were still barley, we only recorded 35 bumblebees. In those same fields just two years later, we recorded 4,056 bumblebees. That's 116 times more (or a 11,489% increase!!" said a spokesperson.

Undertaking weekly pollinator surveys using the BeeWalk method, a national recording scheme run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to monitor bumblebees across the country, enabled Rewilding Denmarkfield to quantify some of the changes.

"We've also seen different bumblebee species - in fact we can see that species biodiversity has increased since we started rewilding. Lots of different types of bees are using the habitats here, with lots of nectar, pollen and potential nesting spots.

Ten different species were recorded in 2023, with the most abundant species being red-tailed, white-tailed and buff-tailed bumblebees. Red-tailed bumblebees have increased the most in abundance since we started rewilding. They seem to particularly like yellow flowers, which we had lots of last year! We also recorded two new species for Denmarkfield in 2023 - field cuckoo and gypsy cuckoo bumblebees."

Whilst these exciting findings are from 2021-2023, and the charity acknowledges that bees had a tougher year in 2024, they are hopeful that after analysing that data, the news will still be positive. After all, the proof is in the seeing and it's not only bees, but butterflies and other insects which have also increased to such an extent that Rewilding Denmarkfield was this year offering bee and butterfly safaris to visitors!

Top right, pic credit: Rewilding Denmarkfield