Introduction

Our Bumblebee nesting project started in 2011 as a bit of conservation to help the declining bumblebee population by encouraging one (or more) to nest in boxes in our garden. We discovered it's not easy, and our project quickly evolved into an ongoing and intimate study of these amazing creatures, which we are sharing here for the benefit of all.

Amongst our unexpected successes are:

A short clip in the film "Britain in a Day" by Ridley Scott (Broadcast by the BBC in 2012)

Featured in Wired Magazine for creating the World's first tweeting bumblebees

Winner of the Internet of Things award 2012 - Environmental Category

Oldest recorded age we can find of a worker Bufftailed Bumblebee - at 103 days

We've discovered, observed and collected a sizeable amount of real-world data, still being analysed and written up (Overview here). Additionally,

We've sourced several live colonies from commercial providers and have been looking after numerous disabled bees indoors.

We've learnt to recognise individual bees, spot specific/individual behaviour patterns

We measured efficiency and can predict some of their behaviour triggers.

We have some CCTV cameras pointing at the nestboxes and inside!

You can also follow BeeBoxALula on twitter where our bumblebees tweet live for themselves!

Insights

We're also using tech to monitor the lives of our bumblebees - visual, audio, temperature, sunlight, weather. We can see how the environment impacts their behaviour and understand, capture and share the marvels of their secret lives.

As a species under great threat, we've brought the critical study of Bumblebees into the Multimedia age and revealed intriguing and new insights based on direct observation.

..Queen BB33 stayed here overnight.

I got the surprise of my life this morning when i wandered into the dining room and turned on the nestbox monitor, only to discover that our overnight guest (BB33) was still there!

BB33 - clinging to the pot of honey waterThe latest we'd had a bee stay in the box overnight was until 10.15 so we were amazed to see her there an hour later; especially on such a beautiful warm day (20 degrees C, clear blue sky). We'd fully expected her to have already left. Over the next 90 minutes she drank regularly from the honey water. I was quite amazed by this as not only has the honey-water been there unattended for quite some time now, but when I last looked it was down to half-level due to evaporation. So, I was surprised she could get anything from it. (We are quite keen to understand how much a bumblebee can drink in one sitting, and we haven't been able to find out yet).

In fact, she seemed to be rather enjoying it, so we started to wonder whether it had fermented a bit and turned to mead! We might have a tipsy bee on our hands!

Here's a video of her sticking her head right into the pen-lid in order to get some drink (which I think must be empty by now!)

We also took temperature measurements regularly from inside the box, now that we have a remote temperature sensor - wondering whether something would trigger her to come outside. To cut a long story short, she didn't come out all day, although she did retreat to her secret place off-camera for the duration, so we had to check on the audio every so often that we could hear activity.

I was convinced she must have drunk the entire supply of honey water so felt that the next time she wants to drink she will have to leave the box. So, we placed a small quantity of it right by the entrance of the nestbox as we can't get inside while she is in there. (This is something I want to consider for an improved box design - a way to supply fresh beverage to our guest without opening up the box; I have some ideas.) We also spread some pollen around the entrance to the box and on the lid. This will mean she can get supplies easily without going far, hopefully encouraging her to stay near/at the box.

We have since learned that there is some research that show bumbles are smart enough to go for nectar that is warmer, as this means there is less energy expended by them in heating up - so this is something we can consider in our drink-supplying strategy. It might also explain why she was very happy to take the honey-water from inside the box, which was at about 22 - 23 degrees C - i.e. warmer than outside.

We last heard a small buzz from her at 17:30 inside the box although have not seen her on the camera and to our knowledge have not seen her exit; so for the timebeing we assume she is still in the box and staying for a second night. This is a first for us!

Nik Sargent

Nik Sargent

Bumblebee Project Home / Blog

Nik Sargent

Introduction

Insights

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Don't know about Wills and Kate but...

Nik Sargent