Dear friend of the bumblebees: |
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1.1. An Attack on a Bumblebee Nest On September 20th a hole appeared to have been started on the edge of the slab by an animal, probably a marten, although the nest itself had not been breached. On the 22nd however, the marten succeeded in reaching the nest by digging from the opposite side of the slab. The result? Scattered for 2 meters was nesting material, honey and larval cells, larvae, and a bunch of dead bees. Klaus managed to resettle the remaining bumblebees in
a nesting box a few meters from their old home. To see
if his efforts were crowned by success, read here: 1.2. Johann’s Bumblebee Diary Johann writes: Here’s how I prepared them: To stop wax moth infestations I placed 2 large handfuls of a mixture of lavender twigs and small pieces of soap. I check them every Sunday”. 1.3. Nesting box and settlement Ralph’s box was built with the help of his children over the winter, and ended up being finished with an interesting and charming paint job. The excited creators are impatiently waiting for some new tenants. In our forum (German only), experts and amateurs continue to discuss the best techniques in box placement, which species can be attracted to the boxes, and other details to help make the process more successful and enjoyable. Our free instruction manual published on the homepage
has been downloaded more than 700 times. You can
download it here: |
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2.1. World Insect Population Dramatically Decreasing The author of the study, Jeremy Thomas of the British Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, writes: "The results of this study are important, even if it’s only about butterflies and in Great Britain. It is probably indicative of a worldwide phenomenon. This is the first time that it’s been shown that decreasing wild populations are being indicated for not only birds and plants, but also insects. Before this, many scientists believed insects were not affected to the same degree. It appears that wild bee populations, including bumblebees, are decreasing even faster than the butterflies." The authors have presented an extremely somber scenario and speak of this as the "6th major mass extinction in the history of the earth". A press release from Germany tends to agree with these conclusions. The Ecological Research Centre Leipzig-Halle (UFZ) is in the process of coordinating a 5 year project to determine "the extent of the loss of pollinators like bees and butterflies in Europe”. This study of pollinator loss is divided into 4 stages
and covers 27 countries. The first part of the study
is to determine current populations. These data will
then be compared to previous data collected over the
past 20 years. The causes of the losses will then be
determined, and ultimately the effects on wild and
cultivated plants will be investigated. 2.2. A Student Writing on Bumblebees Needs Some Help Theresa lives in Bavaria in the region around "Burgwallbach (97659), a small village near Bad Neustadt an der Saale (97616). If you can help please send a quick reply to Cornel and he’ll get you in touch with Theresa. 2.3. A Sensitive Farmer Makes an Effort He came up with a solution by placing a mesh over the
bowls that allows only insects equal or smaller in
size to the problem creature leaving bees and other
insects unharmed. He is also informing all of his
colleagues about this problem, and is even setting up
his own bumblebee nesting boxes. We need more farmers
like him! 2.4. Unscrupulous Insect Collectors Arrested in South
Africa The WWF estimates that the profit margins involved in this kind of trafficing are comparable to illegal arms and drugs. The South African court fined the criminals: 2 had to
pay 7000 Euros, the other 2, 60 and 120 Euros
respectively. Was this enough punishment? 2.5. Bayer and BASF: Legal Headaches from Noxious
Pesticides It turns out that Bayer and BASF (with its “Regent TS”) are being pressured politically and legally to take these noxious products out of production. Both firms, not surprisingly, are fighting this in the courts. |
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Bumblebees Used as Pollinators in Greenhouses |
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4. Contact Information |
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In the last newsletter we published a manual on how to build bumblebee nesting boxes. Since then, Ralph
Berghane, a member of our network, sent us a photo of
his uniquely designed box.
There has been some very worrying news from Great
Britain (In Germany it was broadcast on the radio
station, “The Deutschlandfunk"). The study involved
20,000 naturalists who surveyed their flora and fauna
and found, for
example, that butterfly sightings have decreased up to
71
percent over the past 40 years. This decline is
considered to be probably indicative of all insect
populations.