Collecting Seeds to Save Bumblebees

25th August 2012

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is running a wild flower seed collecting workshop in partnership with Scotia Seeds. The workshop is free and open to anyone with an interest in learning how to collect wild flower seeds to help support the Great yellow bumblebee.

The Great yellow bumblebee is one of the UK's rarest bumblebees and is now only found in north and west Scotland. Caithness and Sutherland are the only places to see the Great yellow bumblebee on the mainland.

Michelle Appleby, Scottish Conservation Officer for Bumblebee Conservation Trust said:"Great yellow bumblebees, along with other bumblebees, need habitats with plenty of wild flowers for nectar and pollen. In the UK we have lost 97% of our wild flower meadows since the 1930s and as a result our bumblebees are in decline.

The seed collecting workshop will teach people which plants are important for our bumblebees and how to collect wild flower seed. We hope that by learning how to collect wild flower seed responsibly people will be inspired to create more wild flower areas to support the Great yellow bumblebee."

The course will take place on Thursday 30th August in the scenic village of Bettyhill, Sutherland and will include a trip to Farr Glebe to collect seed and hopefully see Great yellow bumblebees.

Places are limited, please contact Michelle Appleby, Scottish Conservation Officer on michelle.appleby[AT]bumblebeeconservation.org or 01786 467 827.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is a leading invertebrate conservation charity with technical expertise and a strong track record of habitat delivery, awareness raising and public engagement.