The Bird & The Bees

19/10/2026

Please leave the real spiders to make your outdoor webs! 😉🕸️🕷️

08/10/2026

BIG NEWS FOR BUFF-TAILS! 🐝

It's official: bumblebees are 'noteworthy'! 🐝💵 🎉

The Buff-tailed bumblebee has been chosen to feature on the new banknotes – and received the most public votes!

From a shortlist of 18 UK wildlife species, the Buff-tailed bumblebee attracted an un-bee-lievable 360,399 votes. A big thank you to everyone who voted for this iconic insect. Your help made it happen.

Joining the Buff-tailed bumblebee on the Bank of England’s redesigned notes will be the Atlantic puffin, barn owl and European hedgehog. It has not yet been decided which animal will appear on which note. Although, Buff-tailed bumblebee queens – the largest in the UK – can weigh up to 0.85g ... exactly the same as a £10 note!

One of the UK’s most common bumblebees, the Buff-tailed bumblebee represents not only all 24 UK bumblebee species but also the many other pollinators that play a vital role in our environment and food production.

What banknote would you like to see a bumblebee on?

11/09/2026

The sun hasn’t quite hit the trees yet this morning, but it is catching the bees as they fly in and out of the garden, making them look like little rockets! 🚀

28/08/2026

We swapped bee-rescuing for dragonfly-rescuing last night! This poor dragonfly had found its way on to a West Midlands Railway service on the Redditch line and couldn’t escape. We carefully caught it and took it to our friends’ beautiful wildlife pond where it’ll have plenty of food. We hope the ticket inspectors didn’t notice the extra passenger! Worcestershire Wildlife Trust

14/08/2026

I have a couple of hummingbird hawk-moths regularly visiting my garden at the moment. I managed to get a couple of pictures of them earlier, along with an extremely fluffy bumblebee. Plant flowers and they will come. 🌺🦋🐝

11/08/2026

18/07/2026

This one is for the experts! 🐝🐝🐝
(Clue in the comments if you’re struggling!)

Hmmm ... what could they bee? Can you guess the names of these UK bumblebees? 🐝

Share your answers in the comments. If you're feeling creative, why not leave more emojis for your favourite bumblebee!

14/07/2026

❤️🥹🐝 Really enjoyed doing this one! Thank you so much for the kind words, Yvonne. It was a pleasure. 😊

11/07/2026

I spilled a bit of honey this week, and these three lined up to clean it up, conveniently providing me with an excellent identification photo to share with you all. 😉🐝

They can be annoying from time to time, but please remember that they are all valuable pollinators! How good are you at identifying which is which? 🧐🤔

Share to raise awareness (and test your friends’ knowledge!) 😁

08/07/2026