According to the NCVO’s Time Well Spent research reported conducted in 2023, flexibility is the main factor that would encourage non-volunteers to start volunteering. Read Claire’s blog about her flexible volunteering role as a BeeWalker.
If you have limited time availability for volunteering but still want to make a difference, consider volunteering for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BCT). Once a month between March and October, I volunteer as a BeeWalker and walk a transect route close to my home. The route I have chosen (and agreed with the BCT) is less than 2km and takes me no longer than an hour. It’s easy to submit my findings on the BeeWalk website.
You need basic bumblebee identification knowledge which will be provided by BCT. There are 24 species of bumblebee resident in the UK but only 7 or 8 of these are commonly seen. Once you start looking, it gets easier to tell them apart but it’s also possible to record an ‘unknown’ bumblebee as numbers matter too. My transect has highlighted for me the importance of growing a wide variety of flowers and shrubs, as I watch the bees moving around my transect over the season. A shrub that will have lots of bees in May will have none later in the year because they are all visiting a different bush further up the road!
Fun fact – did you know that if you see a bumblebee in Spring/early Summer it will be a Queen or a female worker – the males (fluffier and often sporting smart yellow moustaches) don’t typically get up until July!
A volunteering opportunity that makes helps wildlife, improves your knowledge, and gets you outside for an hour a month – what’s not to like?
