Newsletter: September 2024
The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan is a framework bringing together different sectors across the island of Ireland to create a landscape where pollinators can survive and thrive. Its implementation is coordinated by the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
To spot this month: keep an eye out for the Common Carder Bee
By September, many of our bumblebees are thinking about hibernation. One of the last to be spotted is the Common Carder Bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum), which still flies into October. Keep an eye out for this very common bumblebee this month. It is variable and can become bleached in the sun. However, there are no other bumblebees that have all ginger hairs on the thorax, a ginger tail, and then some black hairs on the abdomen. The photograph shows two Common Carder Bees on Knapweed: Rodney Daunt
To do this month: plan to cut and lift your long-flowering meadow
September is the time when long flowering meadows should be cut, and the grass removed. Having these meadows, however small, is a fantastic action for biodiversity as it is returning a vital species-rich grassland habitat that has been lost in Ireland.
September is the ideal time to cut and lift, but please be aware that some Councils and large organisations may have cut earlier than this. This can occur where they have large areas to mow before the weather changes, and the ground becomes too wet for large machinery. Others will have such large areas of meadows to manage, that some will be cut in spring instead. Some flexibility in cutting is fine. More important is that the grass is removed. Fertilising or mulching grass back in will enrich the soil and give grasses an advantage over any wildflowers. Flower-rich meadows are a very fragile habitat that require the correct management each year. Photo below shows a meadow managed by Waterford City & County Council.
Wild Bee Festival 2024
We had a fantastic weekend in Galway for this year’s Wild Bee Festival. On the 17th and 18th August, the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan team went to Knocknacarra Community Centre for a weekend of talks, walks and workshops on how to help pollinators in our communities.
We heard from several fascinating speakers including Grace Clinton from Fenit’s Changing Tides in Kerry, who have been doing great work helping the rare Large Carder Bee, Rob Steed from Galway City Council who talked about creating community meadows around the city, and Caroline and Colin Stanley who have led a variety of creative projects to protect Merlin Woods. Paula Kearney, Galway City Council’s Biodiversity Officer, took us on a tour of Barna Woods and showed us Galway’s first pollinator-friendly rain garden built by Shantalla Men’s Shed.
A huge thank you to Galway City Council for collaborating with us on this year’s festival, and to all the inspiring speakers. Keep your eyes peeled to find out where we’re visiting next year!
New blog – an update on the Great Yellow Bumblebee
The Great Yellow Bumblebee, Ireland’s rarest bumblebee, was formally found country wide but is now restricted to the Mullet Peninsula in NW Mayo and the adjacent mainland. A beautiful large bumblebee, predominantly blonde with a characteristic strip along its back, it’s often referred to as a “blonde bombshell”.
The Great Yellow Bumblebee has declined significantly in recent times, due to changing land use which has resulted in the loss of the species-rich meadows and grasslands it thrives on. It’s now classified as Endangered on the Irish Red List, and vulnerable at the European level.
But over the past few years, extraordinary work has taken place to protect this special bee. With farmers, schools, Tidy Towns groups, charities and academic institutions coming together, is there now some hope for the Great Yellow Bumblebee? In this blog, part of our ‘Dispatches from Researchers’ series, Dr Dara Stanley gives us an update.
Can you help find new populations of the Ivy Bee?
The Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) is one of our most recent bee arrivals. It was first spotted at the Raven Nature Reserve (Wexford) in October 2021. It’s a solitary bee with an autumn flight period, to match the flowering of its favourite plant – Ivy. It nests in south facing banks of light soil. Within the National Biodiversity Data Centre, we’ve been keeping an eye on its spread each year. You can see the current distribution below, as of the end of 2023.
The Ivy Bee is quite large and has very distinctive bands of white on the abdomen. To make it a little easier, most of our solitary bees have completed their life cycles now, although there will still be hoverflies, wasps and honey bees on the wing. The Ivy Bee is likely to be around from mid-September until mid-October. Particularly check in areas along the east and south coasts. Submit your record if you think you’ve spotted this bee, and please attach a photograph if you can.
Pollinator, native plant, and action of the week
Every month, we’re sharing ideas on how you can support pollinators with evidence-based actions. We’ll also be celebrating the connection between native plants and pollinators by shining a spotlight on different species. Each week on social media we will release a pollinator of the week, a native plant of the week, and an action of the week. You can also get the monthly summary on our website.
Last month for FIT Counts – can you help us reach 900 counts in 2024?
Flower-Insect Timed Counts (FIT Counts) are an important way that you can help us monitor pollinators. Download the free FIT Count App, watch a 50x50cm patch of flowers for 10 minutes and count how many insects visit. You can carry out a FIT Count anywhere, and on any flower, but where you can, please use one of our 15 target flowers. In September, it is especially useful to carry out FIT Counts on Ivy.
In 2023, 673 validated FIT Counts were submitted by 126 different volunteers. The average number of insects per FIT Count was 9.
Almost 800 FIT Counts have been submitted for 2024. Can you help us reach 900 counts by the end of September?
For those interested, the National Biodiversity Data Centre also runs a Garden Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, where you can count the number of butterflies visiting your garden.
