BRYNBERIAN was buzzing during a recent bumblebee day run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT) in partnership with the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

In the morning, Clare Flynn, outreach officer for Bee Wild West Wales and Julie Garlick from the national park led a guided walk around the wonderful gardens and footpaths of the village.

Despite the very hot weather, the enthusiasm of the participants meant the walk lasted longer than planned and there was lots of discussion about bumblebees – their importance as pollinators, some of the pressures they face and what we can do in our gardens to help them.

The Brynberian gardens were full of flowers such as comfrey, lavenders, perennial cornflower and lavatera – all of which are good for bumblebees. During the morning walk four different species of bees were spotted; the white tailed, common carder, tree and garden bumblebees.

In the afternoon 11 keen volunteers from the village helped Clare and Julie to explore the beautiful site of Craig Rhosyfelin, north of Brynberian. The hot weather may have limited the number of bumblebees around but another species was spotted– the red tailed bumble bee feeding on the wonderful wildflowers, particularly bird's foot trefoil and purple knapweed, that lined the route.

Exploring natural sites such as Craig Rhosyfelin, helps the trust to monitor which species are present, including the possibility of some of our more rare and threatened bees.

The trust is currently delivering the Bee Wild West Wales Project across Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. The project aims to raise awareness of bumblebees through a variety of events and to enable people to take positive action to help conserve bumblebees and create bee-friendly habitat within their own communities.

The next Pembrokeshire Bumblebee Day will be on August 6 at Dr Beynon's Bugfarm.

In the morning there will be a bumblebee discovery walk at the bugfarm (suitable for those over 6 years old, children must be accompanied by an adult). In the afternoon they will be exploring Dowrog Common to find out which bumblebee species occur at this special site (no experience necessary but participants must be over 12 and children must be accompanied by an adult).

This event will be part of St David's status as Wales's first bee friendly city. Booking is recommended, contact sarah.sharpe@thebugfarm.co.uk or clare.flynn@bumblebeeconservation.org for details.

If you would like to find out more about the Bee Wild West Wales Project, contact clare.flynn@bumblebeeconservation .org or visit www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bee-wild-west-wales.