The bumblebee is a common sight in Kent but the short-haired variety disappeared two decades ago

Conservationists are all a-buzz creating a new home... for a bumblebee.

After travelling halfway across the world, wildlife protection experts are setting about raking over clover in Kent and creating ideal conditions for a species which hasn't been since in Britain for more than 20 years.

The short-haired bumblebee was last recorded in Dungeness in 1988.

But it could return - thanks to a trip to Sweden and the hard work of conservation organisations, volunteers and local farmers.

The project, funded by Natural England and supported by the RSPB, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Hymettus Ltd, originally made attempts to bring the insect back from New Zealand.

Now healthy queen bees are being brought back from Sweden to the UK for disease screening.

Meanwhile preparations have been made at the RSPB’s Dungeness reserve and farmland across Romney Marsh to create the ideal conditions for the bees to flourish.

Natalie Holt, RSPB warden said: “We have been cutting and raking red clover, tufted vetch, birdsfoot trefoil and other legumes from one of our prime bumblebee fields.

“This is the perfect time to harvest the seeds as the clover has finished flowering now. We’ve also been raking green hay to transport to Little Cheyne Court wind farm and Rye Harbour nature reserve.

“Hopefully this will establish good wild flower habitat on the other sites that will be important forage for bumblebee species in the area.”

RSPB and Natural England have been working with farmers in the area to create wild flower-rich habitats ready for the reintroduction of the bees. This is already proving a success by encouraging the spread of several other rare bumblebee species back into the area.

Wildflower meadows have declined by 97 per cent in the past 60 years in the UK. In that time, two species of bumblebees have gone extinct in the UK and many others have declined.

These insects have been declining across Europe due to the changes in agricultural practice that have seen the decline in flower-rich wild meadows.

Bumblebee expert Dr Nikki Gammans, who is leading the project, said: "Several species of bumblebee have declined in the UK in recent decades and populations of may remain dangerously low. But thanks to focused conservation efforts in Kent and East Sussex we are starting to see some of our rarest species spreading locally.

"To create the right conditions for the short-haired bumblebees return we have been working with farmers to encourage the pollen and nectar rich wild flowers that bumblebees rely on.

“It has been amazing to see the effect it has had on other species. England’s rarest bumblebee, the shrill carder bee, has returned to the Dungeness RSPB reserve after a 25 year absence and the large garden bumblebee has come back after 10 years.

"This area has become a haven for bees and when we finally release the short-haired bumblebee we will be completing the picture. They originally disappeared because of the decline in wildflower meadows but what we, and the farmers we’re working with, have shown is that it is possible to bring nature back to our countryside."

Nikki will travel to Sweden in spring next year with a group of volunteers to capture a minimum of 30 queens which will then be brought to the UK, kept in quarantine for two weeks to ensure they are virus free before being released at RSPB’s Dungeness reserve.

The reserve will be celebrating the many different bumblebee species with a special programme of events and activities throughout 2012.