Natural England

First sighting of cuckoo bumblebee in Norfolk for five decades

A rare cuckoo bumblebee has been officially recorded for the first time in almost 50 years on a Norfolk nature reserve thanks to careful management of the lowland heathland bog.

Numbers of red-tailed bumblebees are booming thanks to impressive restoration of 25 hectares of heathland at Natural England’s Dersingham Bog National Nature Reserve. The site, leased from the Royal Estate at Sandringham, is a continuous heather-coloured carpet from June to August providing a non-stop source of food for the bumblebees. Because the red-tailed bumblebees are there in good numbers it has opened the door for a clever counterfeit – the cuckoo bumblebee.

The red-tailed cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus rupestris), like the bird it is named after, is one of six species of bumblebee that uses the scent of its host as a cover to enter the nest undetected before killing the queen and laying their own eggs. Unwittingly the queen’s female offspring continue to feed and tend to the cuckoo’s larvae. They were thought to have dwindled to tiny numbers in Norfolk, with the last definite records of sightings in Winterton in the 1960s. They are only found where healthy populations of their hosts thrive.

Helped by an active volunteer group, Natural England reserve staff have been working hard to clear the dense canopy of birch and pine saplings and invasive rhododendron.

This creates light and space for a carpet of nectar-rich flowers to emerge, beginning with bell heather in June, followed by cross-leaved heather, delicate wood sage and spectacular heather blossom in August. Dersingham lays on a constant supply of nectar across the important summer months allowing red-tailed bumblebees to thrive despite alarming declines in numbers outside the reserve.

Natural England’s senior reserve manager, Ash Murray, - a skilled naturalist - couldn’t believe his eyes when he spotted the rare find: “I was out for a walk and noticed several bumblebees on the pale green flowers of wood sage. They really are quite spectacular creatures, about an inch long, with shiny black body armour on the thorax to prevent getting stung.

“They are cleverly disguised to look just like their host red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). The way to tell them apart is that the cuckoo bumblebee doesn’t have a honey basket on its legs to collect pollen as the other bumblebees do all the hard work foraging for food. It really is a superb animal and it shows how far we’ve come in restoring Dersingham Bog that we’re attracting back bumblebees that haven’t been recorded for more than 40 years.”

Intensive agricultural practices and a decrease in the number of insect pollinated crops have led to a drastic decline in bumblebee numbers over the past seventy years, with one species recently driven to extinction.

David Richmond, the Norfolk County Recorder for bumblebees, commented:
"The Victorian naturalists described this species as very abundant in Norfolk, but a major survey in the early 1960s found only two specimens during a four year study, the last of these being in 1963 at Winterton. The recent New Naturalists publication on bumblebees suggests the species is now recovering in the south-east of England, and Ash Murray's observations give hope that this recovery may be extending to Norfolk".

Norfolk’s biological records officer, Pat Lorber, based in Gressenhall, East Dereham, added that they had received a number of unusual records over the last few years, particularly for invertebrates and birds, and that it was important such instances were permanently and centrally recorded.

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Notes for editors:

1. Natural England works for people, places and nature to conserve and enhance biodiversity, landscapes and wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas. We conserve and enhance the natural environment for its intrinsic value, the wellbeing and enjoyment of people, and the economic prosperity it brings.

2. A photo of the more common red-tailed bumblebee and the rarer cuckoo bumblebee are available on request from the press office email: heather.mcmorland@naturalengland.org.uk

3. The Norfolk Biological Records Centre, established in 2000, is the natural Norfolk focus for storing and managing accurate Biological and Habitat Records, particularly for planning and conservation management. It links a network of recorders and users while providing data to all who need it. It is partnered by a group consisting of The Norfolk Wildlife Trust; The Norfolk Team of Natural England; the Environment Agency; Defra; the Broads Authority; a district council representative; Norfolk County Recorders representatives and the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. It also works within the National Biodiversity Network framework, which acts as a link between all the Local Record Centres operating in England, Wales and Scotland.

For further information contact:
Linzee Kottman on 01223 533431/07824 475359, linzee.j.kottman@naturalengland.org.uk or
Heather McMorland on 07919 228388, heather.mcmorland@naturalengland.org.uk
Out of hours 07970 098005.

For further information about Natural England please visit: www.naturalengland.org.uk