The bumblebee population has made an impressive comeback in a developed area by increasing to 116 times what it was two years ago thanks to a nature restoration group.

Rewilding Denmarkfield, a 90-acre project based just north of Perth, has been working to restore nature to green spaces in an increasingly built up area for the past two years.

Statistics from the charity show in 2021, when some of the fields managed by the project were still barley monoculture, only 35 bumblebees were counted.

But by 2023, after just two years of nature restoration work in the same fields, the population increased to 4,056. The diversity of bumblebee also doubled, according to the charity, from five to ten different species.

Due to intensive arable farming, with decades of ploughing, herbicide and pesticide use, biodiversity was incredibly low when we started. Wildlife had largely been sanitised from the fields. Rewilding the site has had a remarkable benefit.

This superb variety of plants attracts thousands of pollinators. Many of these plants, such as spear thistle and smooth hawk’s-beard, are sometimes branded as ‘weeds’. But they are all native species that are benefiting native wildlife in different ways.

The sound of traffic and a uniform sea of mono-culture barley have been replaced by the most beautiful meadows, full of wildflowers, young saplings and the buzz of bees.

Source: The Scotsman

https://www.scotsman.com/hays-way/bumblebee-population-increases-116-times-over-in-remarkable-scotland-project-4882622