Bettyhill venue for bumbleebee workshop
THE Bumblebee Conservation Trust is running a wild flower seed collecting workshop in Bettyhill at the end of the month.
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 and has been put on in partnership with Scotia Seeds.
The Great Yellow Bumblebee is one of the UK’s rarest and is now only found in north and west Scotland. Caithness and Sutherland are the only places to see the species on the mainland.
Michelle Appleby, Scottish conservation officer for the trust, explained that all 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,” she said.
“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 takes place on August 30 in Bettyhill and will include a trip to Farr Glebe to collect seed and look for Great Yellow Bumblebees.
Places are limited, please contact Michelle Appleby on michelle.appleby@bumblebeeconservation.org or 01786 467 827.