bumblebees for Britain

Had a great evening at the Earthwatch debate yesterday, where 5 groups of species competed for the title of environmental mascot for britain, and the bumblebees won:



Left to right: Tony Juniper (song thrush), Stephen Hopper (oak), Samantha Burgess (coldwater corals), George McGavin (bumblebee), Johannes Vogel (bluebell), and host Andrea Catherwood (a former Earthwatch volunteer).

George McGavin championed the bumblebee pointing out that it is a keystone in the ecological network, upon which many other species depend, and that the 25 bumblebee species found in the UK today represent 10% of the global bumblebee fauna.

Twitter hashtag for the event is#SpeciesForBritain