A large, sleeping bee emerges from a bluebell, a species that vanished for years until restoration began.
The episode is a field report from the Tinnerö Eklandskap nature reserve outside Linköping, Sweden. Host Mats Ottosson and field reporter Helena Söderlund are on location, joined by guests including biologist Tobias Ivarsson and municipal ecologist Anders Jörneskog. The program focuses on the dramatic increase in insect diversity, particularly wild bees and other stinging insects, over the past decade. Tobias Ivarsson demonstrates findings like a large bee sleeping in a bluebell and a cone bee warming up on a grass stem. The hosts visit a transformed site where asphalt was replaced with sand, creating an insect hotspot. They interview Janne Moberg, who monitors leather bugs using peach-scented traps, showing population growth from 20-30 to 106 individuals. A segment revisits a 2004 archive clip featuring Ulla Britt Forsgren from the Linköping Eco Park Association, who campaigned to preserve the area from development. Anders Jörneskog explains the reserve's history as a military training ground until the early 2000s and current management strategies like grazing with cattle, creating wetlands, and planting flowering shrubs. The episode highlights specific successes: golden wasp species increased from 0 to 16 in the garden, and the large tapestry bee, once thought extinct in the region, has been rescued. A section covers the Humlebee conservation project in Värmland, where retiree Börje Holgersson became an unexpected caretaker. The program includes a weekly bird quiz, revealing the Hempling finch as the answer, with listener contributions. Carolina Janiets, an ecologist at Tinnerö Gård, discusses her work collecting seeds and observing insects. The episode concludes with future visions for the reserve, including more wetlands and a visitor center, and a preview of next week's episode on musk oxen.
