Bumble Bee Nest Survey
Published Jun 23, 2008
Bumble Bee Nest Survey - please participate
Many of you will be aware of the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust.
As part of their work they are helping a Ph D. research student, Gillian Lye (Stirling Univ.)
Gillian is particularly interested in surveying bumble-bee nests and feel that input from beekeepers as we come across these would be valuable.
Since this is a longer-term study and the numbers involved are uncertain, we have decided to make this an 'e-survey' and provide all the material on-line. (This is also a greener approach than sending out lots of forms that will not be used.)
You can download Gillians' survey form and view her (coloured) bumblebee sub-species identification chart here.
If you are in regular contact with the public (e.g. as someone who coordinates 'swarm' calls in your association) can you please download these documents and have a few blank forms to hand for use over the next couple of years. If some of your beekeepers are not on-line, can you please nominate someone who is to return the forms.
If the nest is visited, please take the time to record the details as well as you can and return the form (either electronically or by post) to Gillian. Alternatively, you could leave the form for the caller to complete, once you had helped with ID aspects of the form.
We anticipate that the survey will run for the remainder of this year and probably for most of 2009 as well, so please make this part of your routine for dealing with bumble-bee enquiries.
Before you ask, one of Gillian's research supervisors is Dr. Juliet Osborne at Rothamsted, so this research will be complementary to the work already accomplished.
Please contact Chris Deaves (c_deaves @ compuserve.com) for any other information.