Spring should be filled with the sound of bumblebees busily feeding upon flowers as they gather food to nourish their young nests. Sadly though, many areas are now so devoid of the flowers best-loved by bees that they are struggling to find enough food to survive. Two species of bumblebee have already become extinct in the UK, simply because their habitats have been lost.
But that doesn’t have to be the end of the story, and we don’t have to settle for ever-dwindling populations of bumblebees. We’ve been inspired by the enthusiasm of our members, volunteers and members of the public who all just want to do something to help bumblebees. This Spring, we want to put that enthusiasm into action.
Lobby your local authority
Fed up with seeing beautiful grass verges being cut so low that only the earthworms escape unscathed? Our Local Authorities Pack is for you. This pack will guide you through the process of approaching your Local Authority to ask them to be more bee-friendly when they do what they do. It contains advice and case studies directed at the Local Authorities, showing them some of the simple things they can do to help bumblebees.
Advise your garden centre
Or if you’ve got a local garden centre that could be doing with some advice on how to make the most of their bee-friendly plants, you could have a look at our Garden Centre pack. It will show the centre which plants are best – and worst – for bumblebees, as well as other ways they might support our work.
We’d love to hear how you use these packs. While we don’t have the capacity to get involved with each case individually, any news you can provide us with would be most helpful to us. You can get in touch with us at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Give us your time
There are also many other ways you can go about helping bumblebees. You could sign up as a BBCT volunteer and help us deliver our programme of walks, talks and shows. Whatever your skills, if you think you can help bumblebees, click here to view more information on how to get involved.
You might also want to help us understand bumblebee populations better by getting involved in our surveys. We run the BeeWalk survey, in which volunteers walk a 1-2km route once per month, counting the number of each bumblebee species they see along the route. Don’t worry if you have no experience in identifying bumblebees though, as we run online training and ID training events throughout the country. Read more.
Garden for bumblebees
Gardening for bumblebees is one of the best ways that most people can help bees and attract a range of other wildlife to their gardens. Read more.
Join Bumblebee Conservation Trust
We depend upon our members to help us to continue to do our work to conserve the UK's bumblebees. Membership starts from £16, and new members receive a welcome pack with information poster and booklet, a bumblebee pin badge, wildflower seeds and car sticker. You'll also get our Buzzword newsletter three times a year. Click here for more information on joining the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
We have a vision for a future in which our countryside and communities are covered in beautiful flowers and bumblebees for everyone to enjoy. Help us make that vision a reality.
Thanks to Robert Saunders for designing the 'Spring into action' banner at the top of the page.
“Few people realise just how important bumblebees are. They are charming little things and a pleasure to see, but they also do an essential job which many people take for granted. If bumblebees continue to decline then we face ecological turmoil. Join BBCT today and support their important work.”
Naturalist, Television presenter