{"id":1157,"date":"2026-06-23T14:35:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T14:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/sustainabilityspace\/?p=1157"},"modified":"2026-06-23T14:52:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T14:52:54","slug":"bumblebees-outside-the-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/sustainabilityspace\/2026\/06\/23\/bumblebees-outside-the-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Bumblebees outside the Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ros Shaw, Sustainability Manager (Biodiversity)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why are there so many dead bumblebees outside the Forum?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two places high up in the Forum roof where bumblebees regularly nest. These are buff-tailed bumblebees, whose nests may be up to 500 bees in a good year! Buff-tailed bumblebees commonly nest underground, but they can also nest in roof spaces. Bumblebees are quite short lived; the workers can live for only a few weeks in spring and summer when flowers are abundant. The only bumblebees that survive to the next year are the mated queens, which hide in the vegetation during winter and hibernate. As the nests come to the natural end of their life, the workers and males will die off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There may also be some confused bumblebees in this area, as we have some beautiful lime trees. Lime tree nectar has low sugar content, which means that it is not a great food source for bumblebees. It can contain plant chemicals that the bees find addictive so they keep eating lime nectar long after they should stop. This is not well understood, as some bumblebees seem to tolerate lime nectar just fine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some years there may be more dead bumblebees than others. This may be for a number of reasons: the nest was particularly successful that year so it was bigger than usual; or they may have been affected by predators, pests or the weather. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information see: I\u2019ve found a dead bumblebee – Bumblebee Conservation Trust<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can we do to help protect the bumblebees?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately there is little that we can do to prevent this as it is part of their natural life cycle. We also can\u2019t prevent them from using the lime trees for nectar. Preventing the bumblebees from nesting here would mean they don\u2019t have the opportunity to use this area to raise new generations of bumblebees! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across our campuses\u00a0we are working to improve habitats for bumblebees by planting pollinator friendly\u00a0plants, and\u00a0leaving\u00a0our grassland areas to grow a bit longer during the summer. This\u00a0provides\u00a0wildflowers\u00a0for food\u00a0and nesting areas for bumblebees which like to nest in longer grass.\u00a0We are also\u00a0monitoring\u00a0bumblebees using the Bumblebee Conservation Trust\u2019s\u00a0BeeWalk<\/a>. This is all part of\u00a0our\u00a0Nature Positive Strategy<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0use insecticides on campus,\u00a0keep\u00a0herbicide\u00a0sprays to a minimum. We make sure\u00a0plants\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0have any flowers on them before spraying\u00a0herbicides\u00a0to protect bees from consuming them accidentally.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are they dangerous?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bumblebees can sting you, but\u00a0generally they\u00a0are not\u00a0very aggressive\u00a0when they are not protecting their nest. We recommend that you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0pick up or touch bumblebees.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ros Shaw, Sustainability Manager (Biodiversity) Why are there so many dead bumblebees outside the Forum?  There are two places high up in the Forum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2731,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBumblebees outside the Forum - Sustainability Space<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/sustainabilityspace\/2026\/06\/23\/bumblebees-outside-the-forum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bumblebees outside the Forum - Sustainability Space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ros Shaw, Sustainability Manager (Biodiversity) Why are there so many dead bumblebees outside the Forum?  There are two places high up in the Forum […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/sustainabilityspace\/2026\/06\/23\/bumblebees-outside-the-forum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainability Space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T14:35:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T14:52:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/sustainabilityspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/547\/2026\/06\/P1020382-blog-1024x685.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"elt217\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"elt217\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/sustainabilityspace\/2026\/06\/23\/bumblebees-outside-the-forum\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/sustainabilityspace\/2026\/06\/23\/bumblebees-outside-the-forum\/\",\"name\":\"Bumblebees outside the Forum - 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