Plight of the humblebee

We concluded our bee awareness week with an excellent talk on bumblebee's given by Peter Smith - a beekeeper and amateur entomologist with a self-declared passion for  pollinators. The talk was well supported by many members of the 4Bs Nature Group and we were treated to a pacey, vividly illustrated and wonderfully animated exposition of the creatures that we learnt were originally called humblebees - because of the sound they make.

Plight of the bumblebee
The talk was informative and overwhelmingly positive and we learnt many things from our expert presenter but the serious message was in the title of the tallk, 'Plight of the Bumblebee'. Our bumblebee populations and species richness have been in decline for a long time —particularly since the mid‑20th century, with some range losses of around 30% in certain regions. But 2024 was a particularly bad year for bumblebees. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s Bee-Walk monitoring programme reported that 2024 saw the lowest bumblebee numbers on record, plunging by 22–24% compared with the 2010–2023 average. Two species suffered drastic declines: Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius): –74% White‑tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum s.l.): –60%
While other species saw moderate drops: Tree bumblebee: –39% Garden bumblebee: –12.5% Buff‑tailed bumblebee: –9.5% Moss carder bee (B. muscorum): –34% Common carder (B. pascuorum): –16%  Notably, some late‑season species increased: Heath bumblebee (B. jonellus): +63% Shrill carder (B. sylvarum): +74%, though concerningly still absent in many remaining sites. The cause of this significant decline is attributed to a cold, wet spring from March through June which caused high queen mortality during the critical colony‑founding period, compounded by ongoing long‑term stresses.

This year's weather has been a lot better with warm to hot dry spring and summer so we anticipate some recovery of bumblebee populations.

Beyond year on year fluctuations due to weather - climate change and weather extremes are now firmly established drivers of decline: wetter springs, heatwaves, and flooding are disrupting bee phenology, foraging, and nesting. Habitat loss and land-use change remain primary pressures: loss of wildflower-rich meadows, agricultural intensification, and fragmented landscapes reduce both forage and nesting sites. And the use of pesticides and pollution weaken bee health and their resistence to viral attacks, reduce floral resources, and complicate navigation and reproduction. Ironically, keeping bees for honey production - if undertaken on a large scale, can have a negative impact on bumblebee populations.

Peter's plea
All these issues and more were raised by our speaker and he ended with a plea to cultivate more flowers - both native and non-native nectar producing plants and to abandon the use of pesticides particular those containing neonicotinoids.

The talk was greatly appreciated. ​