Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

New species of bee discovered at Highland nature reserve

Blaeberry Queen bumblebee (Bombus monticola)
Blaeberry Queen bumblebee (Bombus monticola)

Several new species of bees has been recorded for the first time at a Highland Perthshire nature reserve.

Bee expert Anthony McCluskey made numerous discoveries at the National Trust for Scotland’s Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve last year.

The spot, at Killin, is already home to nine of the 24 known bumblebee species – including the rare bilberry bumblebee (Bombus monticola) and the broken-belted bumblebee (Bombus soroeensis).

New species discovered

But Mr McCluskey recorded sightings of female Clarke’s mining bees (Andrena clarkella) for the first time foraging on willow catkins on the Morenish woodland trail.

The widespread species are traditionally very hairy with pollen baskets not only on their legs but on their abdomen too.

Sightings of the rare female Lime-loving furrow bee (Lasioglossum fulvicorne) have also been logged – just the ninth time the species has been recorded in Scotland.

Those other sightings have all been logged in a small area of the Cairngorms.

The first of many discoveries to come

Mr McCluskey said it had been “extremely exciting” to spot so many new varieties, and that Ben Lawers is the “perfect environment” for them.

Pointing to the new woodland which offers “excellent food sources and nest sites”, he said: “The findings from last year show the importance of providing just the right conditions for these remarkable insects.

“This includes the willows and wildflowers that provide food for the bees, as well as the sunny spaces for them to nest in the ground.

“It was extremely exciting to find several new species at Ben Lawers last year, and no doubt there will be more to discover at this amazing site.”