Bumblebees Increase by More than 100x in ‘Remarkable’ Scotland Rewilding Project–From 35 Bees to over 4,000

Bumblebees Increase by More than 100x in ‘Remarkable’ Scotland Rewilding Project–From 35 Bees to over 4,000

A Scottish field once home to mono-crop barley has become a pollinator’s paradise after intervention from a local trust saw bumblebee numbers increase 100-fold.

Entitled Rewilding Denmarkfield, and run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, the project has also seen a sharp increase in the number of species passing through the rolling meadows after they were reclaimed by dozens of wildflower species.

The area north of Perth is about 90 acres in size, and surveys of bumblebees before the project began rarely recorded more than 50. But by 2023, just two years of letting “nature take the lead” that number has topped 4,000, with the number of different bee species doubling.