Bumblebee field guide app released
There are 23 bumblebee species in Britain and Ireland. They play an increasingly appreciated role as pollinators and indicators of habitat diversity. Now for the first time there is an app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch that provides a comprehensive resource to help identify bumblebees in the field and for learning all about them.
Bumblebees of Britain & Ireland is published by NatureGuides in partnership with Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Habitat Aid. The app is the result of a three-year project involving numerous people and organisations. It offers the following features:
- Superb specially commissioned illustrations by Richard Lewington, showing all forms for each species
- Multiple video clips for every species, showing interesting and characteristic behaviour
- All-species view organised to help rapid identification in the field
- Still photographs for every species, carefully selected to show key identification points
- Distribution maps and detailed text accounts including advanced identification
- Extensive introduction reproduced from David Alford's classic book Bumblebees
- Intuitive software that allows any species to be compared side-by-side
- Supports both scientific and common English species naming
Screengrabs from the app can be found below (click for larger versions):
Bumblebees of Britain & Ireland is available from the Apple iTunes App Store (appstore.com/birdguides) in two versions. A basic edition (price £1.49) covers the eight species most frequently encountered in the UK and Ireland. The Pro edition (price £9.99) covers all 23 species including scarcer bumblebees such as the Great Yellow and the recently extinct Short-haired Bumblebee — the latter currently the subject of a re-introduction project in Kent.
Pro edition (£9.99) |
Basic edition (£1.49) |
- new video for several species
- new photographs, reviewed for accuracy and usefulness for identification
- updated maps and text for some species
- full iOS 7 compatability
Update 03.10.2013
Bumblebees of Britain & Ireland is available from the Apple iTunes App Store (appstore.com/natureguidesltd) in two versions. A basic edition (price £1.49) covers the eight species most frequently encountered in the UK and Ireland. The Pro edition (price £9.99) covers all 23 species including scarcer bumblebees such as the Great Yellow Bumblebee and the recently extinct Short-haired Bumblebee — the latter currently the subject of a re-introduction project in Kent. For those who already own Bumblebees of Britain & Ireland, the latest update can be downloaded for free from the App Store.
Please note that further NatureGuides apps will be benefiting from updates in the near future. Keep an eye on the BirdGuides newsletter for further information.
NatureGuides is the new name for the company behind the popular series of BirdGuides identification apps covering birds, butterflies, dragonflies and moths.
Bumblebee Conservation Trust is the fastest-growing charity devoted to the conservation of bumblebees and the habitats in which they thrive.
Habitat Aid is a one-stop resource for creating sustainable landscapes and delivering biodiversity.
