Bee lovers buzzing about the return of a long-lost native.

Byline: Iain Laing

ABUMBLEBEE which died out in the UK but survived in New Zealand having been shipped there more than 100 years ago looks set to return after experts discovered how to successfully breed the "fussy eater" in captivity. Small populations of the short-haired bumblebee were established on the South Island of New Zealand after being transported there on the first refrigerated lamb boats in the late 19th Century to pollinate crops of red clover.

It became extinct in this country in 2000, and Natural England, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT), the RSPB and bee charity Hymettus have launched a scheme to bring the species home.

But they need to be bred in captivity for a generation to ensure they avoid jet lag by being in hibernation when they are transported, to prevent them carrying disease with them and to increase the number available to bring back.

"We couldn't do it without one generation in captivity," said Dr Ben Darvill, director of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

The move is possible after experts discovered that the secret to successful captive breeding of the insect lies in knowing what it likes to eat.

Nikki Gammans, project officer for the reintroduction scheme, said: "The short-haired bumblebee is a very fussy eater. "It needs fresh pollen every day, and not just any old pollen. It needs highquality pollen that has been collected by other bumblebees."

Dr Gammans travelled to the Czech Republic to learn the technique from bee enthusiast Jaromir Cizek, who developed the method, and will now travel to New Zealand to put it into practice.

The project officer and her team will use captive colonies of bumblebees to collect pollen - which is much more protein-rich than pollen collected by honeybees - which they will then brush off the creatures' legs when they return before feeding it to the short-haired bumblebees.

Dr Gammans will travel to New Zealand's South Island in November and will spend four to eight weeks trying to capture as many queens as possible as they emerge from hibernation.

The queens will then be bred in captivity and the next generation, due to emerge in January and February next year, will be kept in hibernation and flown back to the UK to be released.

Dr Gammans said: "New Zealand is about to begin a programme to control Viper's bugloss because it's a non-native plant, but the short-haired bumblebees depend on it, so this is a now-or-never chance to rescue some of these bumblebees."

CAPTION(S):

BACK The short-haired bumblebee on its way to Britain.