What a busy week on the reserve!
It’s been gull mania here with a glaucous gull seen today on Burrowes pit by Makepeace hide and a laughing gull seen there yesterday too! Another sea bird highlight this week was the gull-billed tern, spotted over Burrowes on Sunday.
Other bird highlights this week include: garganey, hobbies, peregrines, willow warblers and spotted flycatchers.
Today, over 30 short-haired bumblebee queens were released on the reserve today. Dotted around and released onto prime food sources such as birds foot trefoil and tufted vetch, the queens had just been quarantined after coming over from Sweden. We hope they will thrive on the reserve and each make a nest to produce worker bees and ultimately the next queens for generations to come.
This is the 5th year of the short-haired bumblebee project which aims to reintroduce the once native bumblebee to the UK in hope to sustain a viable population for the future.
Bees are in huge decline and we are trying hard to reverse this by planting and spreading wildflower meadows, providing a rich food source for a variety of different bees.
Help bees at home by providing them with their favourite food plants such as lavender, foxgloves, honeysuckle, bluebells and flowering ivy. Make sure you leave a shallow dish of water out in your garden because even bees need to have a drink now and again!