Shrill carder bee causes a buzz on the Gwent Levels

Martin Shipton

Six years after Gwent Wildlife Trust acquired their Bridewell Common nature reserve on the Gwent Levels, a small bee is making quite a buzz.

This summer, the trust was able to record its first shrill carder bee (bombus sylvarum) on the reserve.

This is one of Britain’s rarest and most threatened bumblebees, now found only in a few areas in the UK, including the Gwent Levels, where GWT’s conservation work is vital for its survival.

GWT volunteers Bob Roome and Rosie Saunders spotted the queen bee foraging on a patch of red clover when they were carrying out their regular butterfly transect on the reserve.

“It’s so rewarding to see the hard work of staff and volunteers paying off, as we bring nature back,” said Bob. “Over the last few years, the habitat has been managed to create an ideal location for this small bumblebee to thrive.”

Action taken to help the shrill carder bee includes.

* Green hay spreading taking seed-rich hay from Great Traston Meadow to propel progression of wildflower species;

* Establishing a consistent regime of late summer cutting and grazing management, leaving some areas uncut for the bees’ benefit;

* Maintaining the ditch margins on the Gwent Levels to offer connectivity of habitat and good nesting sites.

High-pitched buzz

The species is named after the high-pitched buzz it makes when airborne. Once common in the lowlands, it has vanished from most places during the 20th century. It is now found in fragmented populations in pockets of Kent, Essex, Somerset, Wiltshire, and south and west Wales that include wetlands, dry grasslands, dunes and brownfield sites.

What these varied places have in common is that they are not intensively farmed. We have lost 98% of flower-rich meadows in England and Wales over the past century, drastically reducing habitats where the shrill carder bee and other wildlife can thrive.

The shrill carder comes late to the season, with its queens not usually emerging from hibernation until May. Research suggests the bees do not forage as far from the nest as many other species, so it needs flower-rich habitats and undisturbed nesting grounds. It nests in rough, tussocky grassland, within clumps of grass or just below ground.

Late-flowering plants

Colonies are small, with only about 50 workers in a mature nest, and males and daughter queens emerge late, too, at the end of August or September. So, the species needs late-flowering plants – there are plentiful supplies of nectar in September – to ensure the next generation goes into hibernation well fed.

Gwent Wildlife Trust owns reserves throughout the region, including meadows, ancient woodland in the Wye Valley, and unspoilt upland tracts of habitat. One of the trust’s flagship reserves is Magor Marsh on the Gwent Levels.

Magor Marsh is one of the last remaining pieces of natural fenland that once covered the Levels. Wetlands like this were once commonplace across Britain but they are now one of the UK’s most threatened habitats.

It was the threat of losing this important place in the 1960s that brought local naturalists together to fight for its survival, banding together to form what is now known as the Gwent Wildlife Trust. More recently, Barecroft Common was added to the reserve along with nearby Bridewell Common, extending this important habitat for the benefit of the natural world.

Diversity

The Gwent Levels provide a mosaic of habitats that nurture a rich diversity of wildlife throughout the year. The distinctive, familiar but increasingly rare sound of cuckoo calling heralds the fact that spring is in full swing, while the reeds and scrub house the elusive Cetti’s Warbler, its wonderful call piercing the air.

In summer, wildflowers carpet the meadows, and the air is full of insects as they feed on the nectar-rich flowers. As autumn approaches, it’s the best time to see a brilliant flash of colour as kingfishers dart along the waterways. Flocks of teal and shoveler make the ponds their winter home. Throughout the year, the waterways known as reens are frequented by water voles (one of the UK’s fastest declining mammals) and otters.