Bumblebees Like Gardens
Every week, the Null dissects the most self-evident studies and pointless papers not to hit the headlines. It's harsh, but funny. This week, Hayley Birch on bumblebees.
Just off the top of your head, where might you expect to find bees? Go on, take a wild stab – where might you stumble across a bumble?
If, in your infinite wisdom, you answered ‘in the garden’, then you’d be correct. The results of the National Bumblebee Nest Survey tell us the little buzzers love Britain’s gardens. Juliet Osborne, lead author of the study, says, “Gardeners like to see flowers almost all year round, so this ensures continuity of nectar and pollen sources for the bees throughout spring and summer.” Which is a roundabout way of saying that bees are attracted to flowers.
Didn’t we already know that?
We may have suspected this was the case, but what a delightful project for the 700 nature enthusiasts who so willingly volunteered. They must have been as busy as, well, bees. Volunteers surveyed their own gardens plus other countryside habitats and found that bumblebees nested most regularly in gardens.
So is there a point to this?Ecologists hope the new research will provide insights for conservation efforts focused on declining bee populations. However, it might also be useful to note for future reference how easily the British public are persuaded to spend their time bumbling around the countryside in search of statistics.
More silly science:
- What? - Animated beer
- Scary - Einstein resurrected
- Fun - Spoof or troof?
- Listen - The Null podcast
Or why not try another study of the bleedin' obvious?
Studies of the Bleedin' Obvious is reproduced from the Null's column in the Telegraph.
Image provided by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust where you can find information on conserving falling bee populations.
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