Bringing the shrill carder bee back to the Geuldal
The valley of the river Geul (Geuldal) is home to a large number of bee species that are rare in the Netherlands. To enhance these populations and to effectively and sustainably stimulate the whole bee community we set up the initiative ‘Boshommellandschap Geuldal’. This is a collaboration between nature conservation organisations, local area managers, farmers, local councils, the provincial council of Limburg and scientists. By improving this area on a landscape scale we aim to enhance living conditions for the bees in this area. We use the shrill carder bee (Bombus sylvarum, ‘Boshommel’ in Dutch), which is currently absent in the Netherlands, as flagship species. We expect that with a few adaptations in the whole area the Geuldal should be a suitable place again for this charismatic bumblebee.
Bee-friendly management
Three years of measurements of the bee population and flower availability in the Geuldal have given us insights in the relationships between these two factors. This initiative focuses on five habitat types, and within each habitat type we found: more flowers = more bees! This means that we can improve the bee population here relatively easily. Furthermore, the first results of 2020 make us very hopeful for the coming years. We found a more positive trend in bee abundance in the locations where bee-friendly management was implemented. Click below to read more about the results so far.
