Dungeness buzzing

On a wonderful and memorable day at Dungeness, 50 short-haired bumblebee queens were released into the wildflower meadows specially prepared for them as part of the reintroduction backed by Natural England, the RSPB, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Hymettus.

What a fantastic and exciting experience it was to witness the return of the short-haired bumblebee to Dungeness, where it was last seen nearly 25 years ago.  Staff and volunteers were delighted to take part in this historic event. 

For some the day started early - 5.30am - in preparation for the first releases broadcast live on breakfast TV.  Not being needed until a more civilised 8am I was able to watch from the comfort of my living room.  I held my breath as the first bee left its box and settled on Dr Nikki Gammans' finger.  The bee took a little while to warm up (not surprising as a famous Dungeness mist was cloaking the peninsula at that time of the morning) but soon it took to the air. Quite a moment and I have to confess to having a tear in my eye.

As the morning progressed the sun broke through and we spent the rest of the day basking in sunshine - ideal conditions for releasing the rest of the queeens.  Our administrator Jill was with one of the release groups: 'We were down at Boulderwall watching the individual release of about nine short-haired bumblebees and Ian, Nikki’s Dad, asked me if I’d like to release one – wow, wouldn’t I just!  The bee had warmed up a bit so was ready for release from the tube it was in so I held it under the flowers on a white deadnettle, prised the lid off and watched ‘my bee’ as it crawled out and straight onto the plant.  It remained there for a while savouring it’s freedom and enjoying our lovely Dungeness sunshine.. What a treat!'.

Congratulations to all those involved in this exciting project.

PS I'm hoping to add some photos soon but am currently having trouble downloading them so watch this space....