FROM BUG LIFE

Header Will Hawkes Dear John Welcome to the March edition of Buglife's e-newsletter, BugBytes! Keeping you up to date with invertebrate news, interesting snippets of information and so much more. This month, we bring you lots of exciting opportunities for the young bug lovers in your lives, fascinating solitary bee discoveries, great events and an update on our Winter Appeal. We hope you enjoy, thank you for your ongoing interest and support of our work! Thank you for your support! Our Winter GiveMatch Appeal closed at the end of February and we're delighted to share that together we raised more than £20,000 for bugs! We depend on your support to continue protecting and championing a safe and secure future for invertebrates – they are essential to life as we know it. Thank you, as always, for your unwavering commitment and support. BugBytes Image - Winter Appeal Become a Citizen Scientist this spring! Be a citizen scientist (1) It's a brilliant time to explore the great outdoors, spend time with family & become a Citizen Scientist, if you aren't already! There are lots of fantastic bug-gy activities to get involved with; check out some of our suggestions below: Bugs Matter ~ Will lack of insects be a hot topic again this year? There are a number of ways you can help support anecdotal discussion with science and data, starting with our very own Bugs Matter! (open May until 30 September). Search for the Strandline Beetle ~ Heading to the beach in the South West? Keep your eyes peeled and let us know if you spot one of these strandline scuttlers (open year round). SB Survey Be a BeeWalker ~ if you have a few spare hours every month, want to enjoy a short walk and help monitor the abundance of bumblebees, this is the survey for you! (open March until October) Scottish Oil Beetle Hunt ~ have you spotted a strange looking blue-tinged beetle whilst out walking? Be sure to take a picture and log your sighting (open year round) PoMScheme FIT Counts ~ Help monitor how pollinator populations are changing with PoMScheme FIT counts! With your help data is being gathered on a wide range of flower-visiting insects. All you need is a flower and 15 minutes. (open April until 30 September) POM Just a few of the many great insect related Citizen Science opportunities, surveys and activities running at the moment. All are a fantastic way to learn more, contribute to science, and hopefully aid in discovering what is happening in our natural world. Join the Bug Art Competition this Easter! Calling all creative kids aged 5 to 17! Showcase your artistic skills and win fantastic prizes in the Bug Art Competition, hosted by Wild Finca and The Little Adventures of Erig the Earwig, and supported by Buglife. Sign up now to receive: • A downloadable guide with 'Top Tips' for your bug hunting adventure; • All competition details (including the 3 age groups); • A chance to win a Leica Monovid, The Little Adventures of Erig the Earwig books, Bug Hotels, one-year Buglife family membership, a London In the Wild Book, two CampWild Memberships, and more exciting prizes! Get ready to impress the judges: • Bill Markham, series producer of Disney's 'A Real Bug's Life'; • Ash Whiffin, Curator of Entomology at National Museums Scotland; • Wildlife Kate, nature enthusiast and educator; • Lucy Fleming, illustrator of The Little Adventures of Erig the Earwig; • Luke and Roan of Wild Finca. Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity to unleash your creativity and explore the fascinating world of bugs with us! Sign up now and let the bug art adventure begin! Find out more and sign up BAC Additional opportunities for young nature lovers Do you know someone aged 12-16 living in England or Wales? Make sure you tell them about Action for Conservation’s FREE Summer Camps! This is an amazing opportunity for young people to: Learn how to take action for nature Discover wildlife Make friends & have fun! Applications close on Monday 5 May 2025! Visit the Action for Conservation website for more information or to download an Application Pack. AFC - SC An Unconventional Home for the Gold-fringed Mason Bee Did you read our recent blog from Buglife Cymru Conservation Officer, Liam Olds, following a recent discovery with regards the Gold-fringed Mason Bee (Osmia aurulenta)? A specialist snail shell-nesting bee, this mason bee is often limited by the abundance and quality of available nests, however, at Castlemartin Range, they appear to have found an unlikely alternative. In June last year, female Gold-fringed Mason Bees were observed entering and exiting ammunition cases with nesting materials. Some of the cases had already been plugged with leaf mastic (chewed-up leaves), suggesting that the bees were using the casings as brood cells. Read more... GfMB © Liam Olds Masters by Research opportunity at the University of York Could this exciting opportunity from the University of York, be just what you are looking for? Assessing the conservation status of wood ants across Europe. This project will involve both collating and evaluating existing published data, and also working with newly collected datasets on wood ant distributions. The new data are being collected as part of the European-wide project MonitAnt, and it will thus be possible for data gaps to be identified and targeted as part of the integration between the Red List assessment process and the data collection. Find out more Upcoming Events Tuesday 1 April ~ Pollinators with the Biological Recording Company (Online) Tuesday 3 April ~ Species Reintroduction – It’s Not Just Beavers with FarmED (Honeydale Farm, Chipping Norton) Wednesday 9 April ~ Walk the Wick! (Canvey Wick, Essex) Wednesday 9 April ~ Wildlife Wednesday: Spring Spotters (Canvey Wick, Essex) Monday 14 April ~ Biodiversity Net Gain and Invertebrates: Are We Getting It Right? with The Biological Recording Company (Online) Tuesday 15 April ~ Using Wildlife Observation Apps with The Biological Recording Company (Online) Wednesday 16 April ~ Wildlife Wednesday: Egg-cellent Adventure (Canvey Wick, Essex) Tuesday 22 April ~ Improving Bee Hotel Design: The Big Bee Hotel Experiment with The Biological Recording Company (Online) Wednesday 23 April ~ Invertebrate Study Day with The Biological Recording Company (NHM, London) Wednesday 23 April ~ Walk the Wick! (Canvey Wick, Essex) Keep up to date with both current and future Buglife events, as well as events from partners and supporters by visiting the Events Page on our website. News in Brief UK Pesticides National Action Plan published, finally! Buglife welcomes a new UK National Action Plan on Pesticides which aims for a future of more sustainable pesticide use, and a reduction in risk to invertebrates, but there is plenty of work still to be done. Find out more... Hope remains for rediscovery of Endangered Strandline Beetle The distinctive Strandline Beetle (Eurynebria complanata), known for its beautiful black and sand-coloured patterns, is the focus of renewed conservation efforts during 2025 in South West England. The last recorded sighting of the Strandline Beetle in England was in 2002 at Braunton Burrows in North Devon. Optimistic conservation experts at Buglife are hoping to rediscover the beetle this year. Find out more.. Conservation charities step into set the record straight after PM wrongly claims spiders stopped 15,000 development Wildlife charities have refuted claims made by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer regarding the impact of conservation efforts on housing development in Ebbsfleet. In an editorial for The Telegraph, Sir Keir suggested that plans for 15,000 new homes had been blocked due to the discovery of a colony of critically endangered Distinguished Jumping Spiders (Attulus distinguendus). Find out more... The Grassland Gap Buglife has joined Plantlife and 41 other organisations to call on the UK Government to prioritise grasslands and commit to developing a Grassland Action Plan for England. From mountain pastures to floodplain meadows, grasslands cover more than 40% of land in the UK. They are a huge natural asset; vital for nature and people to thrive, for food production, and to combat climate change. Read the full letter... Buglife Shop The Buglife shop is open for all your invertebrate needs, offering more ethical options and ways to support bugs. Explore our catalogue for great gift ideas and more! From t-shirts to bug hotels, there is something for everyone. Shop Banner-R Shop Now And Finally... Don't forget you can stay up to date with the work of the Buglife team via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube ! Thank you for your continued interest in and support of our work; together we can save the small things that run the planet! Join Buglife Unsubscribe Company No. 4132695 | Registered Charity No. 1092293 | Scottish Charity No.SC040004 Buglife - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust is a company limited by guarantee Registered in England at G.06, Allia Future Business Centre, London Road, Peterborough, PE2 8AN FR