I have just seen on the news that the short haired bumblebee, a species once native to Britain, is now extinct in the UK thanks to farmers using pesticides on their crops and the demise of the British meadowlands.
However 100 years ago British bumblebees were ught to New Zealand and they have flourished here. The many bumblebees we see around are direct descendants of those original ones, and thus the last of the species. So a British team is hear in NZ catching a stock to repatriate them back to the UK and try to re-introduce them. They are considered vital to the economy of Britain because of the work they do in pollination, and they estimated that the bumblebees were worth $14 million Euro per year to the economy(whatever that is in real money, do the Poms use Euros now too?? What happened to the Pound?)
It’s quite neat that the species has been able to survive offshore but I worry that if the farmers killed their entire population in the UK before, what will stop them doing so again? Are they banning the use of pesticide and re-introducing the atural meadow habitat that was lost? I hope so.
By: Dave Homewood - 28th December 2009 at 10:27
Interesting stuff. Bumblebees are everywhere here at the moment. They’re yet another introduced species which shouldn’t be in our environment, but as far as they go I quite like them. Much better than the various wasps we also have inflicted on us from overseas travellers of olde, not to mention the rabbits, stoats, weasals, ragwort, possums, wallabies, etc. The bumblebees are really quite docile and cute and do a good job in the garden. I was stung by one once though and by geeze it hurt.
Good to hear you still have proper Pounds. Not sure why the UK girl in the NZ news report gave the money in Euros, probably because it sounded higher. Maybe she thought we can’t understand Pounds as it’s so old fashioned and Imperialistic. Who knows.
I heard of another much more bizarre species re-introduction recently where greenies of some sort in Australia have been releasing native rats they found on islands into the streets of Sydney from where they’d been irradicated. not that is flipping stupid.
By: Gooney Bird - 28th December 2009 at 09:47
I too am a member of the BBCT – a very worthwhile organisation which deserves as much support as it can get.
If you are concerned about our disappearing wildlife, this is a very good place to start.
For for information go to http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/
By: BumbleBee - 28th December 2009 at 09:36
Can you guess I’ve got an interest in this subject ?
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is carrying out a project which involves farmers leaving small patches of wildflowers to provide food for bumblebees.It’s only on a small scale now,but it’s hoped that this will become common throughout the UK in future.
http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/news.htm
Having recently come back from holiday in New Zealand,I was delighted to see how bumblebees are flourishing there.I just wish they’d keep still a bit longer so I could photograph them more easily.
The question of pesticides is a tricky one.The BBCT is working to encourage the protection of bumblebees,but it’s a very small organisation.
We Poms still think in pounds,you won’t find many of us who consider the euro when thinking of money and prices here are still in Sterling.
Fourteen million euros works out as £12,611,913-33 in real money.
Sign In
December 28, 2009 at 5:48 am