‘Extinct’ short-haired bumblebee returns to UK

A species of bee not seen in the UK for a quarter of a century is being reintroduced to the countryside.

The short-haired bumblebee was once widespread across the south of England but it vanished in 1988.

However, after a healthy stock of the bees was found in Sweden, conservationists were able to collect some to seed a new UK colony.

About 50 queen bumblebees are being released at the RSPB’s Dungeness reserve in Kent.

Nikki Gammans, from the Short-haired Bumblebee Project, said: Normally, extinction means a species is gone forever.

But it is magnificent that we can bring back this bee species and give it a second chance here in the UK — via redwolf.newsvine.com