Return of the short-haired bumblebee

Last week I held a short-haired bumblebee queen in my hand, stretched out my arm and watched as she clambered on to a red clover flower to take her first sip of wild, English nectar.

This week I've been glued to the Springwatch Bumblebee Cam – a webcam showing the daily workings of a thriving buff-tailed (Bombus terrestris) colony. The one experience in the context of the other has left me with a strange sense of history and new beginnings; of lessons learned and hope.

My short-haired bumblebee (I called her Sally) was one of 49 released on Dungeness in Kent last Monday as part of a high-profile reintroduction project. The species (Bombus subterraneus) used to be fairly common in the south of the UK, feeding on wildflowers such as white deadnettle and red clover. A hundred years ago FWL Sladen captured short-haired bumblebee queens in the wild and took them home to nest in his house. He studied them intently and described in his book, The Humble Bee, how they built their colony, fed their young and how the males of this species were "particularly fragrant".

Sladen kept many bumblebee nests in his home. Each year he set out in his horse and trap and dug up colonies of different species – many of which are now extremely rare – and transported them home. He'd keep them in homemade, bespoke nest boxes in his garden and indoors, where he would make meticulous notes on how they lived.

Since Sladen's day there have been unprecedented changes to our landscape. Agricultural intensification has virtually eradicated wildflowers from our countryside, and wildflowers have also been dismissed in our gardens in favour of more ornamental cultivars. Lack of food for the short-haired bumble meant it was foraging – and living – in increasingly small spaces. Colonies became inbred and the species inevitably died out. It hadn't been seen in the UK since 1988 and was finally declared extinct in 2000.

By contrast, the stars of Bumblebee Cam are one of our most common species. Widespread and robust, Bombus terrestris has adapted to feed from a variety of flowers (unlike the short-haired bumble, which has more specific needs). Like Sladen 100 years ago, I've been watching the inner workings of the nest – only with today's technology (and fewer nests to go and pluck out of the ground) I've had to contend myself with watching via the internet, rather than rearing a colony in my kitchen.

Why some species can adapt to changing conditions while others can't is a mystery to me. But it's not hard to grow the right plants for declining (and even previously extinct) wildlife. Our gardens are proving increasingly important for many bumblebee species – especially those in the vicinity of open landscapes, such as Dungeness. The Short-Haired Bumblebee Reintroduction project – spearheaded by Nikki Gammans – will see a number of queens brought to the UK from Sweden every year for around five years, in the hope that a healthy population will recolonise the UK. For the last few years Nikki and her team have worked with farmers, landowners and gardeners to improve the local habitat to ensure there's plenty of food for the bees once they're "home". Thanks to such efforts, five other rare bumblebees have been recorded in the area after an absence of several years. This small area of Kent is now a haven for wildlife, and is, according to Gammans, "the best place in Britain to be a bumblebee". It's amazing what we can achieve when we work together.

Right now, bumblebee nests in our gardens are becoming more obvious, as the number of workers increases and more bees are seen flying in and out of the nest with their back legs loaded with pollen. There's a colony of early bumblebees, Bombus pratorum, nesting down the side of my mum's pond. Friends have sent me photos and videos of bumbles nesting in their walls and compost heaps. Thousands of people are glued to the Springwatch Bumblebee Cam, watching the fascinating world inside these colonies.

Few of us are lucky enough to have bumblebees nesting in our gardens, but with a few tweaks we can improve the habitat to up our chances of attracting a prospecting queen next year. Many like to nest underground in old mouse nests. Some prefer long, tussocky grass, while others have adapted to use our compost bins and bird boxes. By planting spring-flowering plants such as hellebore and crocus, we can provide a food source as well as nesting options, which may add to the appeal of our garden habitat.

I doubt Sally the short-haired bumblebee will be turning up in any gardens this summer. She's a species of flower-rich grassland, of wildflowers we tend to call 'weeds'. But if you live in or near Dungeness, why not leave a patch to grow wild and be colonised by white deadnettle and red clover, and watch out for any unusual visitors? Yours could be the first garden this species has been in for a hundred years.

For more information on bumblebees, visit the Bumblebee Conservation Trust website.