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.

Another day of education and intrigue.

It was a beautiful warm day today and the bees were out and busy searching for nests. By lunchtime both our boxes were fully prepared to our satisfaction so BCW (bee-catching wizard) went off hunting.

It wasn't long before she returned with a fairly placid bufftail. We decided this should go in the box at the back, as we wanted to reserve the front box (with the camera) for a redtail - since they are a bit less fussy.

BB7

The new regime with the extended cardboard entrance works well and seems to avoid the bee getting stressed. But this little madame was either being stubborn or very slow! She refused to go into the box and simply stuck her bum in the entrance!

bb7 in the pot being encouraged into box 2

bb7 refusing to go in the box!She didn't get stressed or angsty during this, she just backed a little into the entrace and stayed put! She seemed quite happy so we removed the pot and she just stayed there. She actually stayed for about half-an-hour on the cardboard at the front of the box.

bb7 clinging onto the front of the boxShe stayed there quite happily and I was able to get some nice pictures and video. We are still learning about this behaviour: how much of it is assessing the environment (e.g. for danger), how much is getting a sense of bearings/navigation, how much is warming up again ready for flight etc. We can only assume that if the bee is happy to stay for 30 mins or longer they do not feel in immediate peril or danger; and I think we've seen enough activity to assume they are not paralysed with some kind of shock.

Towards the end of the 30 minutes she went through a (now familiar) pattern, which looks like a very rigourous preening: cleaning head, and legs and abdomen and fluffing up and stretching out (video to follow). We couldn't stay observing her, but sometime over the next hour she left, pretty much as we expected. So this bumbling little bee never made it into the box at all!

Not to worry, we had more excitement to come...

Nik Sargent

Nik Sargent

Bumblebee Project Home / Blog

Nik Sargent

Introduction

Insights

Blog:

She didn't even check in!

Nik Sargent