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.

A bit of 'closure' and some happy stories tonight.

Final Goodbyes

We finally buried BLB under some of our Lavender - it seemed a fitting end for him and he'll continue to be part of the bee community in his own small way. We took photos of him today so that we could finally try and identify his gender - and finally we could confirm that he was a boy.

Amongst other things, one way to tell is from the segments on the antennae - from the joint to the front tip boys have 10 segments and girls have 9. Yet another amazing fact of nature that would've have ordinarily have gone unnoticed to this casual observer! Here's a close-up of his antenna (it also shows the long tongue and sheath):

Male Bumblebee Antennae

He created a lot of laughter for us while we had him, not mention a lot of curiousity about his behaviour. RIP BLB!

Nik Sargent

Nik Sargent

Bumblebee Project Home / Blog

Nik Sargent

Introduction

Insights

Blog:

It's a boy!

Final Goodbyes

Male Bumblebee Antennae

Nik Sargent