As the seasons turn to spring lots of creatures that have been laying dormant over winter will begin making an appearance again.

Hedgehogs will be snuffling in our gardens, bats swooping low for insects around fields and hedgerows and insects emerging from the cracks and crevices.

You might see bumblebee queens clumsily navigating their way round, looking for nectar to feed up and somewhere to make a nest for the year. Only the female queen bumblebees survive the winter, the rest of the colony dies off in early autumn. Alone, the queen begins to build a nest, flying low in a zig zag pattern to find what she’s after. For some species this might be a disused rodent hole, amongst thick grass, or even in an empty bird box! There will be in cool, undisturbed areas and if the nest is successful you might get a few hundred bumblebees in a nest – far fewer than the thousands found in honeybee hives. You would be very lucky to find a nest as they aren’t common, but if you do, leave it alone. Males cannot sting but females can and may do if stressed.

There are more than 20 species of bumblebee in the UK (not to mention the hundreds of solitary bee species), not quite as many here in Alderney but why not see if you can spot more than one type? The tail colour is often the first clue as to species, and ginger bees are generally a type of carder. Once you get your eye in you’ll see there’s much more out there in the way of pollinators than honey bees.