Bumbles on Blooms – bumblebee count
Can you be a bumblebee spotter? This spring, the Royal Horticultural Society is calling on gardeners to help record bumblebees on flowers in gardens and parks
Become a community scientist simply by taking photos of bumblebees on blooms between February and May, to help experts work out which flowers bumblebees prefer and how we can better provide for them.
Why your help is needed:
Bumblebees are a key group of wild pollinators, helping to pollinate our garden plants as well as crops such as tomatoes and fruit trees. Like many pollinating insects, bumblebees face the challenges of habitat loss and climate change.
The availability of flowers in spring is especially critical for helping them to establish successful colonies at the start of the season. Bumblebees mostly overwinter in the UK as queens, which emerge from sheltered places such as underground burrows as the weather warms. Flowers are needed to provide nectar; a sugary fuel for powering bees’ flight. Meanwhile, the protein-rich pollen from flowers is fed to the developing larvae of the worker bumblebees.
Here's how to submit your entries: https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/help-our-research/bumbles-on-blooms
