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Conservation & In July, the Conservation & Science team

Science field trip packed their bags, grabbed their nets and pots
and headed down to the Somerset Levels.
Each year the team meet at one of the Trust’s
By Daisy Headley project areas to share knowledge, insights
Back from the Brink and learning to better inform our conservation
Project Officer work. This year we were visiting the Back from
the Brink Shrill carder bee recovery project
in Somerset (the project also operates in the
Thames Gateway where work is led by our
partner Buglife).
On day one, we converted the YHA Street
dining room into a meeting space for some
updates and presentations, including an
excellent presentation from Data Monitoring
Officer, Dr Mia Derhé, on the latest data
analysis and results from the Short-
haired bumblebee project. After which it
was transformed into a mini-laboratory in
preparation for an introductory session from
Science Manager, Dr Richard Comont, into
the new Advanced Bumblebee Identification
course the Trust will be running. We took
specimens that had been previously collected
and used microscopes to identify key features
that are too hard to ID with the naked eye such
as tibial spur length and male genitalia shape.
This was a really informative session. Keep
an eye on our website for updates on future
course dates!

Photo: In-depth bumblebee ID
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