Page 13 - Bumblebee Conservation Trust Buzzword Magazine July 2020

Online For many years, the Trust has been providing Carolyn Postlethwaite has joined as

Outreach Officer, providing support
bumblebee identification courses for beginners to
Training the more advanced, bumblebee blitz days and bee to volunteers, delivering workshops
and carrying out bee and wildflower
safaris. Many of our projects deliver these on a
surveys and practical conservation
local level for volunteers and Dr Nikki Gammans,
Project Manager for the Short-haired bumblebee
project gives an overview of how she has adapted tasks. Carolyn said:
to running the courses online during COVID-19. When I imagined starting my first job in the Welcome
By Nikki Gammans, conservation sector, a backdrop of a lockdown
Short-haired bumblebee Due to the exceptional circumstances over the and pandemic wasn’t quite what I had in mind!
last few months, the Trust has adapted with new
Project Manager and exciting ideas to keep in contact with our Admittedly, it is a bit strange to be 100s of miles to our new
away from my colleagues and to have never met
project volunteers, the public and delivering our some of them in person, but nonetheless we have
bumblebee identification courses. Luckily, in this adjusted and adapted. I’ve been getting to grips with
age of technology we have Zoom and Skype! bumblebee identification and surveying from my trainees
Photo: Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) by Emily Sabin
Since the end of March, our project has held garden, including practicing using nets and pots to
weekly or fortnightly catch ups with volunteers. see bumblebees up close and personal and entering Emma Ball
Themed sessions have taken place for beginners my sightings on iRecord. In a way, the lockdown has
and intermediate bumblebee refresher courses, added another layer of learning to the traineeship, Conservation Trainee and
wildflower identification, project updates and as we are dealing with new challenges and working Carolyn Postlethwaite
data analysis. We always start by discussing to keep up our conservation work in new ways. I’m Outreach Trainee
what we have been doing individually and what looking forward to getting to know our Kentish bees for Making a Buzz for the
bumblebees we have seen, and in particular up close very soon. Coast project
bumblebee nests. In one online discussion, Peter
and Morgan Greenhalf told of a Tree bumblebee Emma Ball has joined as
(Bombus hypnorum) nest they discovered in the Conservation Trainee and will
side of their house. Fascinatingly, once finished, undertake habitat and wildflower
Buff-tailed (Bombus terrestris) bumblebees surveys, advisory work and practical
immediately took up residence. Another volunteer, conservation tasks. Emma said:
Alan Cobb has been able to resume BeeWalk
and shared videos of Shrill carder bees (Bombus On my first day with the Trust, my
sylvarum) he has found in North Kent. Despite parents wished me good luck as I sat down at my
this challenging period, we have still managed kitchen table. It was not your usual start to a new
to record important observations. This has been role, but the Making a Buzz for the Coast team did a
a great way to keep in touch with each other, fantastic job moving my training programme online.
lifted all our spirits and helped us to know our It has been a varied and engaging programme of
gardens and the wildlife in them better. activities; from online bumblebee and wildflower
We also conducted planned training sessions to getting out in my garden and
identification days online putting it into practice. I can now confidently identify
using lots of video the common big eight bumblebee species found in
clips, photography our project area, as well as a couple of the common
and Zoom breakout cuckoo bees. This has been a personal highlight for
rooms, to enable me so far, as I feel that my ID skills have improved
people to discuss ID significantly since starting the traineeship. I feel like I
together - its been a have learnt a great deal about the project already and
12 12 great success! I am excited to get out there and see the project sites! Photo: Pieter Haringsma 13
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