Conservationists are celebrating this week after the first nest of a rare reintroduced species of bumblebee was found at the reintroduction site.

image expired

The short-haired bumblebee became extinct in the UK in the 1980s but, following an initial failed attempt to reintroduce the species, conservationists at RSPB's Dungeness reserve in Kent found offspring worker bees, indicating a successful nest. The second set of queens, brought to the Dungeness reserve from Sweden, was released in June.

Project leader Dr Nikki Gammans commented, "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 becoming a self supporting wild species in the UK once again.

"It's been a long journey to get here, from creating the right habitat for them, collecting queens in the Swedish countryside, scanning them for diseases and then eventually releasing them at Dungeness. Seeing worker bees for the first time is a fantastic reward for all that hard work, but we still have a way to go to ensure this population is safe and viable."

Bumblebees are among the most threatened wildlife in the UK. Of the 25 species resident in the country, seven are in decline and two have been declared extinct. The State of Nature report, compiled by a range of environment and wildlife charities and launched in May, highlighted the short-haired bumblebee project as "a beacon of hope for nature," according to Dr Gammans, who added, " we're very proud to have recorded the first signs of success."

The project has received vital support from local farmers, who for the past four years have been sowing wildflowers to create the ideal habitat for the bees. The bees' decline began in the mid-Twentieth Century, when its natural habitat of wildflower rich grasslands began to disappear. Britain has lost 98 percent of its flowering meadows in the last 60 years.

In light of the success, further releases are planned as the project continues to build up the population. According to RSPB, conservation work at Dungeness has also resulted in increased sightings of other rare bumblebee species including the ruderal bumblebee, the red shanked carder bee, the moss carder bee and the brown banded carder bee.