Bumblebuzzing

The Great Bilberry Bumblebee Hunt

Markeaton Park, Derby, 12^th June 2021

We went bumblebee-watching, bumble-waiting and bumble-hoping. In this strange suddenly hot but-still-often-delayed summer there were a few bumbles about but not as many as we might have wished for. The Bilberries weren’t here: they are far more country-cousins than town bees. Further out than “country” Bombus monticola belong to the moors and upland villages of the Peaks. But places like Markeaton are gateways to the world of the high-country bees…walk through a park, enjoy the flowers, the butterflies, the bees…and next time you’re picnicking in the Peaks you might notice the bee that looks a bit different….

Here on the edge of Derby city, there were still bees about. And cheerful people! People following that wooden trail of carved posts, enjoying tongue length (? go and investigate Garden Bumblebees), wing beats (we had several 16 arm-beats a second and an unconfirmed 20….no comparison with a bumble’s 200). I was positioned at the end of this trail of questions, puzzles and discoveries. By the time they reached me, our bumblebee-hunters were ready to pause, to rest in the shade and chat, to draw their discoveries into big pictures of the bees they had seen, or hoped to see, or knew were there but had not yet seen…..

So we met the fabulous Markeaton Silver-winged Unicorn Bee. Like everyone before us, we didn’t meet the Camouflaged Bee because it is so good at what it does. We met fuzzy bees and friendly bees, Queen Bees and princess Bees, bees looking for pollen, bees loaded with pollen, bees nesting in wellies….

The Great Bilberry Bumblebee Hunt was an event organised by the Pollinating the Peaks project of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Look in on the BCT website or keep on Twitter eye on @BuzzingPeak for information on the next events

Meanwhile, sit back, relax and enjoy some of our artists’ work from Markeaton Park. There is a bigger gallery here on the @creepingtoad facebook page.