Rare shrill carder bee spotted at Bridewell Common nature reserve

One of the UK’s rarest species of bees has been spotted at a south Wales nature reserve for the first time.

The first shrill carder bee has been recorded at Bridewell Common reserve on the Gwent Levels.

South and west Wales are among only a few spots in the UK where the bees, one of the rarest and most threatened types of bumblebee, are found – with other fragmented populations in parts of Kent, Essex, Somerset, Wiltshire.

Gwent Wildlife Trust (GWT) volunteer Bob Roome, who spotted the queen bee foraging on the organisation’s reserve, said it was “so rewarding” to see the team’s work to restore wildlife to the area paying off.

GWT took over the reserve six years ago and has been taking action to help the shrill carder bee on the site, including spreading seed-rich hay to propel progression of wildflower species, establishing a consistent regime of late summer cutting and grazing management, and restoring ditches.

The species is named after the high-pitched buzz it makes when airborne. Once common in the lowlands, it vanished from most places during the 20th Century.

The GWT said 98% of flower-rich meadows in Wales and England had been lost over the past century, drastically reducing habitats where the shrill carder bee and other wildlife could thrive.