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www.bumblebeeconservation.org

2009 to 2019 Ten years of the

Short-haired bumblebee

project
By Dr Nikki Gammans, Project Manager
& Dr Richard Comont, Science Manager

Thirty-one years ago, in 1988, the Short-haired
bumblebee was seen for the last time in Britain, at
2,460 Dungeness in Kent. A decade ago, the newly-formed
hectares of habitat Bumblebee Conservation Trust joined the RSPB,
Hymettus, and Natural England in an audacious
plan to carry out the first bumblebee reintroduction in
45 history, and reintroduce the Short-haired bumblebee
volunteers to Dungeness. Ten years on, it is the Trust’s longest-
running conservation project, and staff and volunteers
celebrated the anniversary at Great Dixter House,
30,000 one of the project sites, on the 30 September 2019.
people engaged

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BeeWalk transects

Photo: Staff and volunteers at Great
100 Dixter House by Barnaby Smith
landowners involved It was originally planned to reintroduce bees
from the New Zealand population – these are the

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