Shetland’s many islands hold a special place in Scotland’s natural history. Bressay, which sits opposite Lerwick, is no exception. Numerous seabirds and waders visit from afar, otters enjoy the voes, bonxies patrol the skies, and, as the Species on the Edge team will confirm, there are a good few bumblebees around.
Back in mid-June, the Species on the Edge team organised a day designed to encourage the public to come along and learn how to identify the bumblebee species of Shetland. There was the promise too of a look at wildflowers and the habitats important to bumblebees.
Molly Harvey is the local Species on the Edge Community Engagement Officer and works for RSBP Scotland. She had organised the event and, as with any identification day, she spent the days beforehand with fingers-crossed, praying for fair weather. To some extent her prayers were answered, but perhaps not in the way she anticipated.
Come the morning of the event day, participants awoke to a stiff breeze. Whilst the short ferry crossing from Lerwick wouldn’t be too bad, there would be challenges in studying the bumblebees in strong winds. That’s where a good Samaritan stepped in.
The day was ‘saved’ when a Bressay resident allowed the team to use his pollinator-friendly garden to carry out much of the surveying. It couldn’t have worked out better. the garden has been especially curated for pollinators and was simply buzzing with bumblebees including early (bombus pratorum) and garden bumblebee (bombus hortorum).
The garden captivated Molly to such an extent that she said, “It was totally inspiring and I would be very keen to do more about pollinator-friendly gardening here in Shetland.”
Having found a great spot there was further delight when Rory Tallack from Shetland Amenity Trust did a fantastic job of helping out with identification. He quickly had the group confidently able to tell apart the tricky to distinguish buff (bombus terrestris) and white-tailed bumblebees (bombus magnus), and along the way shared an enviable reservoir of local natural history knowledge.
And, of course, Molly was delighted that one of the target species for Species on the Edge made an appearance: “The star of the show was the very special ‘Shetland Bumblebee’, a subspecies of the Moss Carder Bee. The ‘Shetland Bee’ relies on flower-rich habitat which can include roadside verges and gardens as was demonstrated so well during our day on Bressay.”
The keenly anticipated presence of the Moss Carder Bee (bombus muscorum) was a key driver in organising the event, which was designed to engage the local community with both Species on the Edge and bumblebees in general.
It was a great day for all concerned. Plenty of inspiring company and an opportunity to explore the actions needed to help our hard-pressed bumblebees. The fun and sense of discovery certainly won‘t end with the popular June event. One of the conservation actions Species on the Edge will be taking for the ‘Shetland bumblebee’ is to recruit BeeWalkers!
BeeWalk is a long-term national recording scheme run by Bumblebee Conservation Trust. By giving just a few hours a month between April-October, and walking a 1-mile route of the participant’s choosing, people can make a valuable contribution. All they need to do is count and identify bumblebees. This valuable data will help the Species on the Edge team and Bumblebee Conservation Trust to monitor the population status and trends of the ‘Shetland Bumblebee’.
This will allow the Species on the Edge team see how bumblebees are responding to pressing issues such as climate change and land use change and in turn better inform and guide targeted conservation actions. BeeWalk data is incredibly valuable and can ultimately help bring species like the ‘Shetland Bumblebee’ back from the edge before it is too late.
Tom Allan, who is the busy Project Officer for Species on the Edge in this area, is also in the process of setting up valuable roadside verge surveys. At the moment he is recruiting a group to trial the survey methodology, and his work will both help determine the status of roadside verges in Shetland and signpost opportunities to improve management for bumblebees and other pollinators.
Bressay’s 7,000 or so acres are a wildlife haven. In the air, the seas all around, and on the land, it offers home to an amazing variety of species. With Tom and Molly’s drive it looks set to offer the struggling Moss Carder bumblebee improved opportunities to thrive in the years to come, and that’s what Species on the Edge is all about.
Species on the Edge is a partnership programme of NatureScot and seven conservation charities, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The partnership consists of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Bat Conservation Trust, Buglife, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, NatureScot, Plantlife and RSPB Scotland.
Find out more:
To find out more about Species on the Edge and to keep up to date with the latest news from the programme, check out their website, Twitter, and Facebook, and sign up to their mailing list.
Key contact molly.harvey@rspb.org.uk. is happy to share a link to a recording of a bespoke training video for the bumblebee species of Species on the Edge delivered by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
Shetland Community Wildlife Group suggestions for pollinator friendly gardening
Shetland Bumblebee survey 2020 and guidance sheet the Shetland Biological Records Centre are always pleased to receive ad hoc sightings of bumblebees.
People may be interested in what to do with ad hoc records of bumblebees. Firstly there is a fantastic article from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust that covers a number of different recording schemes for bumblebees on a more ad hoc basis – So you’ve seen a bee, what happens next? – Bumblebee Conservation Trust. These include A Community for Naturalists · iNaturalist and Home | iRecord.
Furthermore sightings on Shetland are very welcome at the Shetland Biological Records Centre – there is an online recording form here Submit Records Online | Shetland Amenity Trust’.
The BeeWalk website is jam packed with resources to help you get started on your own BeeWalk Home | BeeWalk Survey Scheme. On the homepage is a link to register and also several tabs including a Resources and FAQ tab which are really helpful. If you click on the Resources tab you will find lots of documents including ‘Full guidance document’ which is a step-by-step guide to registering as a BeeWalker and setting up and performing your BeeWalk.
There is also a Bumblebee Conservation Trust youtube channel which contains BeeWalk tutorials as well as videos on identification and survey skills. Bumblebee ID & BeeWalk survey training – YouTube
PlantNet is a fantastic app that is particularly well-rated and iNaturalist also have an app that can be used for plant ID and also to submit and share your findings. The following link provides information on how to identify plants on your iPhone -> Look up what’s in a photo with your iPhone or iPad – Apple Support (UK).
With sincere thanks to Molly Harvey, Tom Allan and Eilidh Ross for all their help in compiling this blog.
Scottish pollinators 