Building a buzz around the Big Bumblebee Discovery

Viewers of Sky News Sunrise were given a buzz this morning when Dr Helen Roy of CEH took to the studio with science presenter Dallas Campbell to talk about the fantastic Big Bumblebee Discovery citizen science project. Helen and CEH colleague Dr Michael Pocock are helping to run the project, which will use the data collected to address the question of how bees are affected by their immediate surroundings and the wider landscape.

Talking bumblebees with @eamonnholmes @skysarahjane #beediscovery pic.twitter.com/wo4TiLdIld
— Dallas Campbell (@dallascampbell) June 10, 2014

The Big Bumblebee Discovery is the first project in the Great EDF Energy experiment, a collaboration between the British Science Association and EDF Energy.

Watch a video of their appearance on Sunrise here (also featuring the superb tree bumblebee model first seen at last year’s Gardeners’ World show!).

Helen and Dallas are having a busy few days both in encouraging children, teachers and parents to sign up to what is a fun and interesting initiative, but also in explaining the scientific usefulness of this hypothesis-led project. The pair were at the Cheltenham Science Festival on Saturday 8 June to talk to visitors to the EDF Energy Zone, where Big Bumblebee Discovery posters, games and other activities were available. (Michael had also visited a few days earlier to lend his encouragement to the hundreds of visiting school children, with many a budding citizen scientist among them).

Visitors to the Cheltenham Science Festival had a chance to learn about
the Big Bumblebee Discovery. Photo: Val Woods

And following their Sky News Sunrise appearance, expect to hear more from Helen and Dallas enthusing about the project on a local radio station near you.

Helen and Dallas record a BBC radio interview to explain more about getting
involved in the Big Bumblebee Discovery. Photo courtesy EDF Energy Comms

What’s it all about?

Bumblebees are prolific pollinators, but it’s believed that environmental changes are causing declines in some bumblebee populations.

The Big Bumblebee Discovery will provide an opportunity for school children through EDF Energy’s ‘The Pod’ programme to get involved in “real science”. Thousands of schools across the country are invited to observe and record colour groups of bumblebees visiting a standard-sized lavender plant. The CEH scientists, alongside the participants, will use the data to address the question: “how does landscape (at multiple scales) affect the diversity of bumblebees?”

• The nationwide initiative involves children and parents counting the number and types of bumblebee they spot in their garden, school playground or local park.
• Results will be used by CEH researchers to map bumblebee numbers across Britain and what impact the landscape has on bumblebee diversity.
• The Big Bumblebee Discovery is the first project in the Great EDF Energy Experiment, a five-year programme launched in partnership with the British Science Association. The initiative is designed to inspire children to think differently about science, technology, engineering

Utilising a citizen science approach – the method of using a large number of researchers to each collect a sample of data – the Big Bumblebee Discovery is an exciting opportunity for thousands of young people to become scientists in their own back garden.

First #beediscovery #citizenscience results of bees on lavender. @edfenergy @BritSciAssociat http://t.co/yDoc6sfTc0 pic.twitter.com/pZjLuCERVZ
— Michael Pocock (@mjopocock) June 10, 2014

Don't forget to sign up by logging on to www.beediscovery.org. The first 3,000 schools to sign up to the experiment will receive a free lavender plant and engagement pack containing a range of fantastic resources to help them along the way – but anyone who signs up to The Pod to register interest in participating will be able to get their hands on a range of great tools to help them with the experiment.

Additional links

Bees and 'ologies at the Cheltenham Science Festival - CEH blog

The Pod programme from EDF Energy

Staff page of Dr Helen Roy

Staff page of Dr Michael Pocock

Posted by Paulette Burns

Bees and 'ologies at the Cheltenham Science Festival

My first time at the Cheltenham Science Festival and first impressions, wow, it definitely “does what it says on the tin”. Science everywhere, of every sort you could think of: microbiology, digital technology, astronomy, electricity, ecology, meteorology… lots of “ologies”, but all made accessible through interactive demonstrations and amazingly enthusiastic scientists.

I accompanied Dr Helen Roy to the Festival where Helen was providing the science expertise for The Big Bumblebee Discovery citizen science project. This is the first project in the Great EDF Energy Experiment, a collaboration between the British Science Association and EDF Energy. The project was launched in January 2014 at the London Eye with the aim of encouraging school children, parents and others to investigate the natural world around them, or, in other words, Science!

The 'Bee pre-paired' game was a popular attraction at the Big Bumblebee Discovery
tent at the Cheltenham Science Festival. Photo: Val Woods

It certainly proved popular in the EDF Energy Zone marquee with many children playing the “Bee pre-paired” game to identify and match different bee colour groups. Helen was on hand to answer all the bee questions and to give an insight into a real environmental study. Helen and her colleague at CEH, Dr Michael Pocock, invited young scientists across the UK to take part in The Big Bumblebee Discovery over the summer by recording information about bumblebees visiting lavender plants. The data gathered will help to test the hypothesis that the diversity of bumblebees is affected by their immediate surroundings and the wider landscape. All the experimental resource packs (and free pencils!) flew off the table.

Schools have been signing up to take part in the experiment and two of the pupils from the Bristol school which was the first to sign up through the EDF Pod were invited to take part in the filming with Helen and the celebrity ambassador Dallas Campbell. During filming for the next podcast, Helen and Dallas encouraged everyone to send in their data and to become part of this UK citizen experiment. Once the sunshine came out the team scampered through the schedule, with the enthusiasm for science shown by Dallas and Helen apparent for all to see!

Whilst at Cheltenham, Dallas Campbell and
Helen Roy filmed a new podcast for the Big
Bumblebee Discovery.

The whole day was finished off perfectly with a visit to the BBC Science Zone to enjoy Science Heroes Top Trumps – I’ll never think of helium in the same way!

Val Woods

Additional links

The Big Bumblebee Discovery: large-scale citizen science! 11 February 2014

The Pod at EDF Energy

Be part of our science - share your wildlife observations at our BBC Gardeners' World stand!

Update 14 Jun 2013: Latest blog post from the show

For the third year in a row, the Biological Records Centre team from CEH are at the BBC Gardeners’ World Live show in Birmingham, and we’re inviting you to visit our stand to learn more about biological recording!

Don’t worry if you are a biological records novice - we’ll take you through the process step-by-step, showing you that it can be relatively easy to identify common insects and tell you why it’s so important for our scientists to receive your records, even those that are from your own garden.

The Small tortoiseshell butterfly is one of five common insects you
can learn about and record at our stand.

But what is a record?

Ladybird expert Dr Helen Roy, an ecological entomologist with CEH and coordinator of the UK Ladybird Survey, will be at Gardeners’ World Live all week so don’t miss the chance to speak to her and colleagues about the records you can make of the insects in your garden, and how scientists can use such information to carry out research.

She explains:  “A record is a wildlife observation, often species, made by someone in a particular location at a specific time.  So for example, this morning I saw a 14-spot ladybird in the village of Crowmarsh Gifford:

Recorder: Helen Roy

Species: 14-spot ladybird

Location: Crowmarsh Gifford

Date: 11 June 2013

Records arrive at the BRC in many formats from records entered through electronic sources (for example, iRecord databases, spreadsheets or even Twitter) or handwritten records (on pre-designed recording cards, notebooks or sometimes on match boxes containing a specimen and even occasionally as intricate paintings).  As long as the what, where, when and by whom are clearly stated then the information constitutes a biological record.  It’s that easy!”

Drop by our Gardeners’ World stand to see a special website that will demonstrate how to make similar records of your own wildlife observations, as well as offer a gateway to the numerous recording schemes in the UK. As well as the chance to talk to our experts about some of the insects in your garden, we’ll also have wildlife planting on show, some superb insect models, real-life mini-beasts to view under the microscope, the chance to see and use new mobile phone recording apps such as iRecord Ladybirds and PlantTracker, and much more information about the rich history of biological recording in the UK.



A demonstration website will be available to start you off with making wildlife
observations from your own garden.



The Biological Records Centre works with 80+ recording schemes, so whatever the insect in your garden, whether a pollinator or a predator, there will be a scheme eager to receive your observations. During the show, we’ll focus on five species in particular: the 7-spot ladybird, the Tree bumblebee, the Small tortoiseshell butterfly, the Marmalade hoverfly and the Oak bush cricket. Don’t worry if you don’t think you know these insects – our experts will be able to tell you all about them, and help you upload records of them from your own garden if you have seen them.

The Marmalade hoverfly is one of the 5 insects we're focusing
on at this year's stand.

So please come meet our experts at stand GFW2, which is located in the Gardening for Wildlife area of this year’s show in Hall 19 of the NEC, Birmingham. The show runs daily from 9am to 6pm from Wednesday 12 to Sunday 16 June. If you can’t drop by in person, we’ll be posting photos and tweets from the event during the week, so stay tuned!

Go to Flickr to view latest photos.

Additional information

BBC Gardeners' World Live 2013 ft RHS Flower Show

Photos on Flickr from our 2013 stand - Pollinators and Predators

Biological Records Centre

UK Ladybird Survey

Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Scheme

Butterfly Conservation

Hoverfly recording scheme

Orthoptera recording scheme

Dr Helen Roy, staff page at CEH

Photos from last year's Gardeners' World Live