The Queen Bumblebee - Guest Post by Charlotte Rankin

Here in Cornwall, the milder weather has encouraged some brave bumblebee queens to emerge from hibernation and take advantage of the early-flowering plants here. While we do have some winter-active Buff-tail colonies here, most bumblebee queens have been tucked up underground in a long winter’s sleep awaiting Springtime. While in Summer a queen bumblebee proudly secures a nest of up to several hundred individuals, her first few weeks after hibernation are in fact spent solitarily. During this time she ensures a suitable nest site, sets out on foraging expeditions and begins her role as a mother. All whilst battling with Spring’s uncertainties, of course!

A queen Early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) on Lesser

Celandine, one of the first bumblebee species to emerge

from hibernation. 

As the Spring sun warms the soil, bumblebee queens in their underground burrows start to stir. Here, a queen bumblebee has spent around seven months tucked up in the earth awaiting the Spring alarm. After warming up and with a morning stretch of all six legs, this determined queen eagerly digs her way out of her little burrow, dusts the soil off her coat and sets off into the fresh Spring air to begin the first of her very busy days.

After this long sleep, she is feeling hungry rather than refreshed. She has spent the last several months relying on her energy reserves and her first thought is to find nectar-rich flowers. At this time of year, flowers may be few and far between, but dandelions or a lucky garden find of Mahonia or heather should do the trick. Once revived, a clean of her proboscis and pollen-dusted eyes, she can now begin her next search for a suitable nest site.

Left to right: Red-tailed (Bombus lapidarius), Tree (Bombus hypnorum), Early (Bombus pratorum) and Buff-tailed (Bombus terrestris) queens. Queens here have been found foraging on crocuses, dandelions and lesser celandines. 

She spends considerable time zig-zaging around, searching diligently for a promising site. Depending on her species, she may take a fancy to an old rodent burrow, tussocky grass if she is a Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum), or even an empty bird box if she is a Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)!

Following a queen Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum), we see her finally decide on an old rodent burrow. While it’s a ramshackle affair of cobwebs and darkness, it provides just what she needs with nesting material conveniently left behind by the previous occupants. She rearranges the material with her little jaws and legs to form a very snug hollow ball, with a single entrance just large enough for her to pass through. In this cavity, she will create a mass of ‘pollen-paste’, made up of pollen and nectar that she has collected on her foraging trips.

Having decided on her home she will set off to explore her new neighbourhood, excitedly flying to and fro and exploring every nook and cranny. She is in fact familiarising herself to its location to ensure that she can return swiftly after her foraging trips. After a few practice flights, she now knows the way to her new home.

During these foraging trips, she battles with the uncertainties of Spring. While the air may be clear and sunny when she leaves, she often returns to her nest with a very soggy, matted coat. Nevertheless, her hind legs are stuffed with pollen and she quickly resumes to the task of constructing her nest. Having mated the previous Autumn, she lays her first batch of eggs upon this ‘pollen-paste’ mass and seals off the structure with wax, which is in fact only around the size of a pea!

Just like birds, she too incubates her brood day and night. This energetically-demanding task requires a lot of nectar. To prevent her from leaving her brood for too long, she cleverly crafts a small wax pot in front of her and fills this with regurgitated nectar. She sips from this while she incubates her brood, replenishing her little pot when necessary.

After a few days, these eggs will hatch into very hungry larvae. As the larvae greedily eat, the queen replenishes this pollen and distributes a mixture of nectar and pollen amongst them. Once fully grown, the larvae will then each tuck themselves up into a cocoon. The cocoons are arranged such that there is a groove that fits perfectly with the queen’s underside. By stretching out her abdomen and hugging all six legs around her cocoons, she ensures their continual warmth for the next few weeks before her brood are ready to bite through their cocoons as adults.

Their movements hesitant and much like a baby’s first steps, the first of her workers are out. Once they have found their feet (all six of them!), they will fulfil their role as baby bee guardians and take over the collection of nectar and pollen to bring back to the nest. However, the queen’s work isn’t over yet – she has a colony of workers to build!

Charlotte Rankin is an ecologist with a passion for bumblebees that embraces both research and conservation. She is a volunteer for the Cornish branch of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and last year she created two booklets for the conservation group, Penryn Buzz to promote their Bee Ranger project. She has also helped the charity Buglife in establishing their Urban Buzz project in Falmouth. You can follow Charlotte on Twitter at, @bumble_being

Ashy Mining Bee - Kimberley Park, Falmouth

Nature in Falmouth - Kimberley Park

The first in a series of short videos showing wildlife, flora and fauna, in and around Falmouth.

Falmouth Cemetery: a haven for wildlife

Possibly the last population in Cornwall of the Red-girdled

Mining bee lives and nests in Falmouth cemetery.

When I discovered the old parts of Falmouth cemetery on a casual walk in 2014 I had no idea of its importance as a sanctuary for wildlife. It was clear that there had been minimal maintenance for quite some time. The County Council was responsible for the general upkeep but maintenance of the graves and monuments was the responsibility of the family. Clearly many had been left by the families to go back to Nature. As a result Falmouth had been left a legacy that contained a wide variety of wildlife.

The small copper butterfly has declined by 75% in urban

locations between 1995 - 2014. Another important

species found in the cemetery.

For the past two years I have been recording the species of wild bees to be found in the cemetery. While some species can be found elsewhere in Falmouth the scarcer ones seem limited to both living and nesting in the cemetery. Many solitary bees species only forage short distances from their nests, usually a distance of about 50-200 meters depending on the size of each species. So far I have discovered 37 species of solitary bees within the cemetery, some are rare or scare both nationally and in Cornwall.

Newly emerged Queen Red-tailed bumblebee. Raised in a nest
in Falmouth cemetery she visited nearby flowers to build her
reserves before hibernating

The key element why the old parts of the cemetery is able to support such a rich variety of wildlife are the range of wildflowers that grow in the cemetery. From early spring to late autumn they provide both nectar and pollen. The fact that the ground is largely undisturbed also benefits ground nesting species such as most bumblebees. 

The value of these parts of the cemetery to both wildlife and the local community is clearly something to be safeguarded. For this reason I have written the document you can download below. It is a guide to some of the species that can be found there together with an overview of the ecology. 

Click to Download PDF

  

While compiling my records for the old parts of the cemetery responsibility for its maintenance passed from Cornwall County Council to Falmouth Town Council. This brought about substantial changes in the way in the way the cemetery is managed. As a response I included a section on maintenance and its importance in ensuring the conservation of the wildlife in the cemetery. Having received a reply from the town council to an earlier draft I have now revised the maintenance section to reflect this.

It is my hope that this will open a debate on how best to manage the cemetery. The maintenance changes are significantly changing both the character of the old parts of the cemetery and its value to wildlife. The degree to which these are desirable are open to discussion. It is important that as many voices as possible are heard in deciding its future.

The current document should be seen as an introduction to the cemetery's biodiversity. During this year I hope to be adding more records to the list of species. I also hope to build a better picture of its butterfly species and also include hoverflies. As its flora plays such a vital part in its ecology I hope to build a seasonal list of its wildflowers. This blog will keep you up to date with my progress.

If you have any photos of wildlife in Falmouth that you would like to share you can be post them on the Falmouth Nature Facebook page or to Twitter including @FalmouthNature.

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