We watched the last bumble bees getting whatever they could from the few remaining patches of clover. And now they are gone. In much of Europe bees are deeply associated with warmth and sunshine. So here’s a cheer for Bombus glacialis, a hardy subspecies which is endemic to the High Arctic. The curious thing about this polar bee is that it is found on just two Arctic islands and they are nowhere near each other. One is Novaya Zemlya at the eastern extremity of the Barents Sea in the European Arctic and the other is Wrangel Island, over 3,000 km away to the east in the Chukchi Sea.
Local media from Andalucia to the Arctic
When we are not on the road, the hidden europe team keeps a finger on the pulse of European affairs. Local newspapers from the Arctic to the Aegean are grist to the mill of this endeavour. Few are better than Svalbardposten, arguably the world's ...