The Shrill Carder Bee (Bombus sylvarum)
In 1912 Frederick Sladen, in his delightful book, The Humble Bee, describes the shrill carder bee as “widely distributed in England and Ireland and common in a good many places but… rare in Scotland.” He doesn’t mention Wales.
In 1932 in a fabulous little pocket book on bees, wasps and ants, Edward Step describes the shrill carder bee as “common in England and Ireland but very less so in Scotland.” He too, fails to mention Wales.
Sadly, through the following years of the 20th century this pretty insect became scarcer and scarcer. Today it is one of our rarest and most threatened bees. But we are fortunate to be able to report that it is found in south Wales where it is known, in welsh, as Cardwenynen Feinlais.
So why ‘carder’ bee and why ‘shrill’
Carder bees are a group of 5 species of British bumblebees which habitually comb, or ‘card’, together material around the nest to cover the honey and brood cells. They skilfully knit a nest out of leaves and other materials.
Edward Step, mentioned above, called this species, the Knapweed Carder Bee adding, “Our English name is given because, though it visits flowers of many kinds, it shows a special fondness for the heads of black knapweed, where individuals may usually be found. Sladen calls it the Shrill Carder Bee, because of the quality of its hum; but this is a distinction that can be appreciated only by those with acute hearing.”
Only Step seems to have noticed this preference for knapweeds. The shrill , high-pitched buzz is one of the accepted distinguishing features of this slow-flying slender- bodied bumblebee.
This pale straw-grey, almost greenish, and particularly stripy bee can be identified by a dark band, like a little waistcoat, between its wings and a pale orange tail. The queens, workers and males all look quite similar. They emerge later in the year than most bumblebees and are unlikerly to be seen until May (queens) or even June (workers).
They favour rough grasslands and grazing marshes and wilderness areas of shingle where their nests (balls of leaves and grass)are not likely to be trodden on although they also make use of abandoned mouse and vole nests underground.
Save the bees
The shrill carder bee is restricted now to the grasslands of the Thames estuary, the Somerset levels, Salsbury plain and a few places on the south coast of Wales as well as a small area of south-west Ireland.
A T-shirt to save a bee
We’re delighted to be supporting the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Trust with our new carder bee T-shirt. 10% of profits from these T-shirts will go to their Birds and Bees project.
You can find the T-shirt here
