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.

It's always a delight to discover or see something new with our Bumbles and barely a day goes by when this is not the case.

Today did not disappoint, with little Holly being bright and colourful and quite busy. Some of her activity was spurred by her new discovery of the "hot spot" in her tub. This a warm area at one side of the tub near to where we have a laptop. The fan vent on the laptop is heating the box to about about 30 - 33 degrees.

The laptop is a new addition, connected to a webcam we added to her tub a few days ago. This allows us to see her more easily from inside the box without looking through the translucent sides and without disturbing her by taking the lid off. We parked the laptop up close to the tub and found that the exhaust fan was heating it up.

Yesterday BCW noticed that Holly had discovered this hotspot and at certain times of day was resting in it, pressed up against the side of the tub to get the heat. Today I saw this for myself - she would come up to the side of the tub and press her legs against the side so that she could get her belly towards the heat. At other times, she would simply just lie with her belly flat on the tub floor. We measured the temperature (on the outside of the box) at about 33 degrees - just nice and toasty for her.

Holly pressing herself up against the inside of the warm tub!

She has the freedom to choose anywhere in the box to sit - the other end of the box was about 21 degrees, so it's clear she is choosing this spot of her own accord. We also moved the PC to a different place on the tub between the two days and holly also re-located to the same position. Proof, if any were needed, that she loves her new hotspot!

Nik Sargent

Nik Sargent

Bumblebee Project Home / Blog

Nik Sargent

Introduction

Insights

Blog:

Own Private Hotspot

Nik Sargent