Posted on 09/18/2013 1:41:38 AM PDT by llevrok
Conservationists working on its return are celebrating a milestone after the bee nested for the first time.
The bee vanished from the UK in the 1980s, having suffered declines over the previous 60 years as its wildflower-rich grassland habitat was lost, and was officially declared extinct in 2000.
A reintroduction project has brought queen bumblebees over from a healthy population in Sweden and after two releases of queens at the RSPB's Dungeness reserve in Kent, offspring worker bees have been recorded at the site for the first time.
Nikki Gammans, who leads the project, said: "This is a milestone for the project and a real victory for conservation.
"We now have proof that this bumblebee has nested and hatched young, and we hope it is on the way to become a self-supporting wild species in the UK. (SNIP)
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Glad he’s back. He was missed.
That would be the bumblebee with the buzzzzzzzzzzzz cut -- right???
Didn’t know a bee could live that long.
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