February

The drop in sting and insect activity continues during February with the general agreement amongst insect specialists being that the severe winter weather in February has hit the bees and wasp dramatically. Numbers typically increase in February as the first bees appear but this year the numbers have dropped and so have "first bee" sightings. There have been very few bumblebees appearing in February even in the south of England. This is a worrying omen for the year.

January

A very significant drop in numbers for people seeking information on stinging insects - primarily because, we believe, of the extremely cold and snowy January across the UK and the very difficult conditions for stinging creatures. In real terms we believe stinging activity generally in the UK to be more than 35% down on January of 2009