As part of Climate Week event, people involved in the Fork to Fork Learning and Training Project met up with Anthony McCluskey, Outreach Officer of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust at Capability Scotland, West Lane Gardens, Johnstone.
Anthony gave a very informative talk about how bumblebees have been declining because of changes in agricultural practices that have largely removed flowers from our farms and local landscape, leaving the bumblebees with little to feed upon. Most UK species of bumblebee have greatly declined in recent years, and two have become extinct in the UK since 1940.
Across the UK, there are 24 species of bumblebee but only eight are found in most areas. Bumblebees are found in a variety of habitats and it is possible to attract them to gardens provided there are appropriate flowering plants.
Anthony highlighted that some species are less common and are only found in a few places. For example, the Great yellow bumblebee is now only found on the north coast and some islands of Scotland. This species previously had a wide distribution throughout the UK, but habitat degradation has seen its numbers decline dramatically in most places.
To learn more about bumblebees, please log on to: http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/
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