23 April 2021: Endangered National Wildlife
Recent years have seen a sharp decline in many bumblebee species in Europe and North America, due mainly to changes in agricultural methods over the past century.
Three species of bumblebee are classified as endangered in Norway. Bumblebees play a crucial role in our ecosystems as they pollinate fruit and berries and transfer grains of pollen and genetic material to other plants.
In the 1990s, there were approximately two million breeding pairs of puffins in Norway, with a quarter of these found on the islands of Røst. Over the past two decades the numbers have gradually decreased due to a lack of food.
The large shoals of herring fry that normally swim past the Røst islands during the hatching season are now absent due to overfishing. This, in turn, has reduced the reproductive success of puffins.
Facts
- 23.04.2021
- NK 2049-2050
- Motif: Atlantic Puffin, Great Yellow Bumblebee
- Design: Camilla Kvien Jensen
- Illustrations: Camilla Kvien Jensen (NK 2050 based on a photo by Frode Ødegaard, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research)
- Denomination: Europa 20 grams x 2
- Issued in: Sheet of 50 stamps (25 of each motif per sheet)
- Print: Offset from Joh. Enschedé Security Print, The Netherlands