One of the most endangered bumblebees in the United Kingdom has been rediscovered in Devon.
According to the charity Buglife, the brown-banded carder bee population has plummeted due to habitat degradation, as it requires flower-rich meadows where wildflowers grow.
For the first time since 1978, it was rediscovered near Prawle Point in the South Hams in 2022.
The conservationists described the discovery as “amazing and quite significant.”
Life on the Edge, a multi-partner initiative, aims to restore populations of some of the UK’s rarest insects and plants, including the last known colony of the six-banded nomad bee, along the south Devon coast between Berry Head and Wembury.
The Life on the Edge conservation officer, Hayley Herridge, stated: “This recent finding, made as part of a larger survey of uncommon invertebrates along the coast of south Devon, is our summer’s top news.
We are ecstatic that a previously extinct species has been rediscovered at Prawle Point for the first time since 1978.
The species was also recently rediscovered in the county’s northern regions.
Rob Skinner, project manager for Life on The Edge in the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, stated: “This is a remarkable and extremely significant discovery.
It demonstrates that our Life on the Edge initiative is already producing results, increasing our knowledge of these unique insects; we anticipate more discoveries as the research continues.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Devon Environment Foundation, and Milkywire have provided funding for the project’s development.
If the second round of money from the National Lottery Heritage Fund is secured, the project will run from April 2024 to March 2029.
