The gentle buzz of the Bumblebee is one of the quintessential sounds of the UK summer.  However, the humble bumble is in trouble.  The Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT) need us to be Bee-walkers and spot Bees…. handily we have just launched our Pedometer Challenge so while you’re out please help count the bees?

If you would like more information on BeeWalk it can be found here:

http://bumblebeeconservation.org/get-involved/surveys/beewalk/

or contact Sam Tarrant on 07540012643 or email sam.tarrant@cemex.com to find out more.

The BBCT need people to count the Bumblebees they see on an hour’s countryside walk (once a month) using the same route each time from now until October and record the sightings and email/send them in.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT) is also working closely with the quarrying industry to get a picture of Bumblebee populations in the UK and why they are declining so rapidly.

These furry, brightly-coloured Bumblebees contribute more than £600 million every year to the British economy through pollinating crops.  Bumblebees are declining across the country (we’ve already lost two species), and to better understand the reasons why, the BCCT need data – lots of data – on where we can find the remaining Bees, how many there are and what they’re doing.

Set up by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, BeeWalk is a national recording scheme to monitor the abundance of Bumblebees on transects across the country. The information collected by BeeWalk volunteers is integral to monitoring how Bumblebee populations change through time, and will allow us to detect early warning signs of population declines and manage the future of the Bumblebee.

Anyone can become a BeeWalker – all you need is a spare hour or so every month to walk a fixed route of about a mile (you choose where it goes), and send us your sightings.  It’s essential that the transect is a fixed route to allow direct comparisons of Bumblebee population trends over time.

The BBCT have got ID resources online and on paper, or you can photograph your mystery species and upload them to the BeeWatch site, or to the BBCT forum where you’ll also find a community of fellow Bumblebee enthusiasts.