Bee Walk in Tunbridge Wells

An enjoyable bee walk across Tunbridge Wells common recently.  Organised by Friends of the Earth and led by the knowledgeable Ian Beavis from TW Museum.

I live on the edge of the common and didn’t realise there was so much life here.

Bees

Bumble bees everywhere especially on the heather. We have around 65 different species of bees here including bumble bees, honey bees and solitary bees. Some of them are as small as a fingernail and also some very rare mining bees in a sandpit. This is one of the only places they are found in Kent.

Did you know that bees see in ultraviolet? This is beyond the range of human eyesight but enables them to identify flowers and there are ‘runways’ directing them in towards the nectar.

We saw a dusky legged mining bee, a girdle mining bee, several red tailed, buff tailed, carder and garden bumble bees.

The bees were on heather, himalayan balsam, ragwort and every flower they can find.

Solitary bees prefer individual plant species whereas bumble bees flit from one plant type to another.

Ian pointed out some holes in the ground which are the entrance to an underground burrow where a solitary bee lays eggs with some food and seals the top. The bees then develop and emerge from the burrows later in the year.

 

 

Butterflies

The common is also home to about 25 species of butterflies

I saw a meadow brown, a gatekeeper, a small blue and a small copper all within one small area near to some heather.

Don’t forget hoverflies and crickets. There are plenty of them too.

What wildlife can you find locally?