Tuesday, 5 August
Bearded cuckoo bumblebee spotted in Berlin after 50 years
After half a century of presumed absence, the Bombus barbutellus – or bearded cuckoo bumblebee – has been found once again in Berlin. Conservationists from the Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung discovered the elusive species on wildflower plots in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Neukölln and Tempelhof-Schöneberg. One of eight previously undocumented wild bee species on the organisation’s urban meadows, the ‘bearded cuckoo bee’ is something of a celebrity among entomologists.
Since 2019, the foundation has been cultivating their roughly 100 flowering areas, and monitoring the various species that turn up. The final list now includes 178 wild bee species.
According to Manuel Hensen, head of the foundation’s Wild Bee Team, the findings demonstrate “that successful species conservation is also possible in a city like Berlin – if suitable habitats are created and maintained over the long term.” He explained that the results clearly show the benefits and enormous ecological value of structurally rich, near-natural flowering areas, and how they put Berlin’s biodiversity back on the map.
Another comeback, announced by the Sielmann Foundation a few weeks earlier, is the discovery of 12 rare bee and wasp species in Döberitzer Heide – a former military training ground turned nature reserve in Brandenburg. So far, 550 species have been counted there, making it one of Germany’s most densely bee-populated landscapes.
