Are you seeing very few bumblebees this month? 🧵
We're in a gap between 'peak queen' bumblebee (spring when lots of overwintered queens are looking for nest sites) & 'peak worker' bumblebee (mid summer). This year the gap seems to be deeper & more pronounced than normal. 1/7 You may remember it was rather damp in many places in the UK earlier this year. Early analysis of 2024 BeeWalk data suggest bumblebee numbers for some of the UK’s 24 bumblebee species were lower than normal in May. It looks like the wet weather has delayed colony formation. 2/7

Why is feeding honey to a bumblebee a bad idea? And other popular questions 🐝🍯

Following our recent post on how kindness can kill a bumblebee, we take a closer look at the dos, don'ts and whys of bumblebee first aid in a quick Q and A:
🧵1/9 Q: Why should sugar-water only be given to a bumblebee as the last resort? 🥛
A: There are several reasons:
🍬 Sugar-water, in all forms, isn't a suitable replacement for nectar.
🌷 Nectar contains amino acids and other micronutrients, so it is much better for bumblebees.
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Your kindness can kill a bumblebee 💔

📢 Please share! Bumblebee queens are starting to emerge from hibernation. British weather isn’t always ideal and people with the best intentions can cause more harm good. Let’s change that.

🧵1/5 🚫 Never take a bumblebee indoors.
💀 Indoor heat can disrupt natural bumblebee body rhythms.
🥵 A warm bumblebee burns more energy.
⚰️ Don’t keep bumblebees in boxes.
🧥 Bumblebees have thick hair to protect them against the cold.

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What should you do if you find a bumblebee in bad weather?🤔

DON’T
🚫Take her indoors!
👑Bumblebee queens need to be outside to search for a place to nest. She may already have a nest that she is gathering food for.
🥵A bumblebee will burn more energy if kept warm indoors.
🧵1/4 ⛰️Bumblebees evolved in the Himalayas and have thick fur – they can cope quite well with the cold.
🍯Bumblebees don't make actual honey. Please don't feed them any.
🕷️Mites are usually harmless – let them catch a ride.
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We get asked this question a lot every year, especially in March. Do you know what the correct answer is? 🐝

📢 Please share! Many people, despite their good intentions, put a bumblebee through unnecessary stress by doing the wrong thing. Let's change that.

🧵1/5 Q: I found a bumblebee sitting on my garden path yesterday. Using a leaf, I gently moved it to a more sheltered spot near to a winter-flowering shrub. Last night was so cold, I'm worried I should have brought it indoors. What was the right thing to do? ❄️

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“Help! I’ve found a bumblebee with mites, what should I do?” This is a common question, but the answer may surprise you.

Please share! Many people, despite their good intentions, put a bumblebee through unnecessary stress (or worse) when they see mites. Let's change that.
🧵1/4 🕷️ Most bumblebees have little mites clinging to their bodies.

🔬 In many cases, the mites are difficult to see, but sometimes there are enough of them to cover large parts of the bumblebee’s body.
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These rare and less common bumblebees can be seen in September, but you better hurry! ⏱️

This month, many bumblebee nests will naturally come to an end and new queens will settle down to hibernate over the winter.

Did you know...?
🧵1/9 ❄️ Bumblebee queens spend the entire winter hibernating alone.
🌷 When a queen first emerges from hibernation in spring, she feeds on flowers, drinking nectar to gain energy.
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With increasing concern about the lack of insects, including bumblebees, we take a look at the first few months of 2023 BeeWalk data to see what is happening. Read on and please retweet if you find this interesting.
@BBCSpringwatch #Springwatch
1/11 BeeWalk, our national bumblebee recording scheme, runs from March to October and involves hundreds of committed volunteers across the UK. The data collected on bumblebee numbers is key to understanding what is happening.
2/11

Staff at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust were utterly dismayed to see last week’s announcements from the UK Government that they intend to downgrade environmental protections. (1/6) As a matter of urgency we will be seeking reassurance from Ministers that they will honour the promises their party made to the electorate in 2019 when they declared that the UK would be the home of “the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth.” (2/6)