How many bee species does Britain have?

Britain has approximately 270 species of bee: one honeybee species (Apis mellifera), 25 bumblebee species, and around 240 species of solitary bee.

Are bees actually declining in the UK?

Yes. Around a third of British bee species have declined in distribution since the 1980s. Some species have been lost from large parts of their historic range. Two bumblebee species have gone extinct in the UK in the last century.

What is causing bee decline in Britain?

The main causes are habitat loss (reduction of flower-rich grassland and hedgerows), pesticide use (particularly neonicotinoids), disease and parasites, and climate change. These factors compound each other.

Are honeybees declining?

Honeybee colony numbers have fluctuated but are generally more stable than wild bee populations in the UK, partly because managed hives receive veterinary treatments and beekeeper care. Wild bumblebees and solitary bees are in a more serious position.

What plants help bees in a British garden?

Native and near-native plants are most useful: borage, lavender, foxglove, comfrey, phacelia, catmint, single-flowered roses, alliums, and clover. Avoid double-flowered varieties, which block nectar access.

Pillar guide

One Third of Britain's Wild Bee Species Are in Decline

Wild bee decline in the UK: how many species are at risk, what is causing it, and what farmers, gardeners, and buyers can do about it.

By Honey Honey Honey · Published 3 June 2026

How many wild bee species does Britain have — and how many have already been lost?

Britain has approximately 270 species of bee. The majority are solitary bees — around 240 species — meaning they do not live in colonies. Each female builds and provisions her own nest, laying eggs in tunnels in the ground, hollow plant stems, or wood. The remaining 30 are social bees: 25 species of bumblebee and one honeybee, Apis mellifera, the only bee kept by beekeepers.

Of these 270 species, around a third have declined in distribution since the 1980s. The data come from systematic recording schemes run by organisations including the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS) and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Declines are measured in terms of where species have been recorded — a species declining in distribution has been found in fewer grid squares in recent surveys than in historical records.

Two species of bumblebee have already gone extinct in Britain. The short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus) was declared extinct in the UK in the 1980s; a reintroduction programme has been running since 2012 using Swedish stock, with limited but positive results in Kent. The apple bumblebee (Bombus pomorum) has not been recorded in Britain since the early twentieth century and is considered extinct here.

Several other bumblebee species have contracted significantly. The great yellow bumblebee (Bombus distinguendus) was once found across much of Britain and is now restricted to the Northern Isles and the far north of Scotland. The shrill carder bee (Bombus sylvarum) is now found in only a handful of locations in England and Wales.

Solitary bee data is patchier — fewer people record them and they are harder to identify — but the evidence from the recording schemes suggests many species have contracted in distribution, particularly those with very specific habitat or nesting requirements.

What is driving wild bee decline in the UK?

No single cause explains the decline across all bee species. Four main factors have been identified, and they compound each other — the same landscape changes that reduce food availability also reduce nesting habitat and increase exposure to pathogens.

Habitat loss is the most significant factor, particularly the loss of flower-rich grassland. An estimated 97% of lowland wildflower meadow in England has been lost since the 1930s — replaced by improved agricultural grassland, arable crops, or development. These highly productive but botanically impoverished landscapes provide little or nothing for bees. The pollen and nectar resources that sustained large wild bee populations have contracted dramatically.

Pesticide use, particularly neonicotinoid insecticides, has been established as a significant threat. Neonicotinoids are systemic — they are taken up by plants and present in pollen and nectar, exposing bees directly during foraging. Sub-lethal effects on bumblebee colonies, on the navigation ability of foraging bees, and on the reproductive success of queens have been documented in peer-reviewed research. The EU banned three neonicotinoids for outdoor use in 2018; the UK followed with restrictions that have since been complicated by a series of emergency authorisations for sugar beet in England.

Disease and parasites have hit honeybees hardest but affect wild bees too. The Varroa mite, now present in virtually every honeybee colony in Britain, is a major driver of honeybee mortality when not managed. Some pathogens — including Nosema and certain RNA viruses — can spill over from managed honeybees to wild bumblebee populations.

Climate change is changing the timing and distribution of both plants and bees, with consequences explored further in a later section.

How much habitat have British bees lost in the last century?

The scale of habitat loss since the mid-twentieth century is the context against which all other bee decline factors must be understood. Without understanding the habitat collapse, the scale of bee decline does not fully make sense.

Wildflower meadows are the clearest example. The UK had around 4.5 million hectares of wildflower-rich grassland in the 1930s. By 2015, this had fallen to an estimated 150,000 hectares — a reduction of around 97%. The loss came primarily from agricultural intensification: draining, ploughing, and reseeding meadows with high-yield grass monocultures, increasing fertiliser use which promotes fast-growing grasses at the expense of flowering plants, and switching from hay-cutting to silage production, which takes multiple cuts per year and eliminates the growing season flowers need to set seed.

Hedgerows provide foraging, nesting habitat, and corridor connectivity between habitat patches. Between 1984 and 1990 alone, the UK lost approximately 23% of its total hedgerow length. Hedgerow loss has slowed since then under agri-environment schemes, and some restoration has occurred, but the network remains far less connected and botanically diverse than it was in the pre-war period.

Road verges and field margins represent a significant potential resource. Britain has around 330,000km of road verges — a total area roughly equivalent to all UK nature reserves combined. Where these are managed to allow flowering plants to grow, they can provide important foraging habitat. Where they are cut frequently for tidiness, they contribute little. Management of road verges is now an active conservation battleground, with some local councils deliberately reducing cutting frequency on designated verges.

Urban gardens collectively represent a large area and can provide good bee habitat when planted with suitable species. The Royal Horticultural Society estimates UK gardens cover around 400,000 hectares — a significant area, though its value depends entirely on what is planted and how it is managed.

What have neonicotinoids done to bee populations in the UK?

Neonicotinoids are a class of systemic insecticides used widely in UK agriculture from the mid-1990s onwards. Unlike contact insecticides that sit on leaf surfaces, systemic insecticides are absorbed into the plant's tissues and transported to all parts of it — including pollen and nectar. Bees foraging on treated crops therefore ingest neonicotinoids as part of their normal feeding.

The scientific evidence on effects is extensive. A large-scale field study published in Science in 2017 found that exposure to clothianidin — a neonicotinoid used on oilseed rape — was associated with negative effects on bumblebee colony success and reduced queen production, meaning fewer queens to found new colonies the following year. A 2017 study tracking wild bee populations near oilseed rape fields found that neonicotinoid residues in the environment were associated with population-level declines in several bee species over time.

Sub-lethal effects include impaired navigation — bees exposed to field-realistic concentrations of imidacloprid show reduced ability to learn routes and return to the hive — reduced foraging efficiency, and compromised immune function. These effects do not necessarily kill bees immediately, but they reduce colony and individual fitness over time.

The EU banned outdoor use of three neonicotinoids — imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam — for agricultural use in 2018. The UK, initially following EU restrictions, has since issued emergency authorisations each year for the use of thiamethoxam as a seed treatment on sugar beet, citing the economic impact of beet yellows virus. Environmental groups have challenged these authorisations. The BBKA and other beekeeping bodies remain formally opposed to neonicotinoid use near flowering crops.

The long-term population-level impact in Britain is not fully separated from other factors, but the balance of evidence supports neonicotinoids as a significant contributing cause of wild bee decline.

How do diseases and parasites affect wild bees differently from honeybees?

The Varroa destructor mite — now present in essentially every managed and feral honeybee colony in Britain — is the most serious disease pressure on honeybees. Varroa is an external parasite that feeds on the fat bodies of developing and adult bees. Unchecked, it causes colony collapse within a few years. British beekeepers manage Varroa with a combination of mechanical methods and licensed treatments; without this management, feral colonies rarely survive more than a few years.

Wild bumblebees and solitary bees do not face Varroa — the mite is specific to Apis mellifera. They have their own parasites and pathogens, some of which are significant.

Nosema is a microsporidian fungal pathogen that infects the midgut of bees. Nosema ceranae — originally a pathogen of the Asian honeybee Apis cerana — has spread to European honeybees and may be more virulent than the native Nosema apis. Nosema also infects bumblebees (as N. bombi), where it has been associated with colony decline and, in some studies, with the collapse of some bumblebee populations in North America.

Viruses, including deformed wing virus (DWV) and black queen cell virus, circulate in honeybee colonies. Varroa mites act as vectors for DWV, enabling it to replicate at high titres in managed colonies. Spillover from managed colonies to wild bumblebees has been documented — bumblebees foraging at the same flowers as honeybees can acquire DWV and other viruses. The concentration of managed honeybees in areas near urban gardens or apiary clusters may increase disease pressure on wild bee populations.

Cleptoparasitic bees — species that lay eggs in the nests of other bee species — affect solitary bee populations, though they are part of the natural ecosystem rather than an introduced threat.

Is climate change affecting UK bee populations — and in what direction?

Climate change is changing the conditions in which British bees live, and the effects are mixed — some positive for some species, some negative for others. The picture is not simple.

Range shifts are occurring. Some southern European bee species that were not historically present in Britain have established populations, and some British species are expanding northward. The ivy bee (Colletes hederae), only first recorded in Britain in 2001, has spread rapidly northward from the south coast and is now found across southern and central England. Warmer autumns have extended the flying season for some late-season species.

Phenological mismatch is a more serious concern. Bees emerge or become active in spring in response to temperature cues. Plants flower in response to a combination of temperature and day length. If bees emerge earlier due to warmer springs but the flowers they depend on are not yet in bloom, or if early-season flowers are disrupted by late frosts, the synchrony between bee and plant breaks down. Early bumblebee queens that emerge before spring forage is available face starvation.

Drought affects nectar production. Some species produce less nectar per flower under water stress, and severe summer droughts can shut down nectar flows that bees depend on. The increasingly unpredictable pattern of UK summers — often too wet in early summer, occasionally too dry in late summer — complicates the foraging picture.

Cold wet springs remain a particular problem for UK bees. Bumblebee queens that overwinter in the soil and emerge in spring need immediate access to food. Prolonged cold wet springs delay flowering and keep queens grounded, with energy reserves that may run out before conditions improve.

Overall, climate change appears to be reshaping which bee species can live where in Britain and how reliable their food sources are — but the direction of impact differs substantially by species.

Why do honeybees get most of the coverage when solitary bees are struggling most?

Honeybees are culturally visible in a way that solitary bees are not. They live in large, managed colonies with a beekeeper attached. They produce honey, which is a commercial product. They have an industry — beekeeping associations, hive equipment manufacturers, honey sellers — that can advocate for their welfare. When a beekeeper loses a colony, it is a visible loss tracked in statistics.

Solitary bees have none of this. A solitary bee — a mining bee, a mason bee, a leafcutter bee — nests alone and produces no commercial product. There is no equivalent of a beekeeper to notice, report, and respond to a decline. The recording schemes that track solitary bee distribution rely almost entirely on volunteer naturalists.

Yet solitary bees are collectively much more important pollinators than honeybees across diverse agricultural and ecological contexts. The red mason bee (Osmia bicornis) is a far more efficient pollinator of fruit trees per individual than a honeybee — her body structure and foraging behaviour pick up and deposit pollen more effectively on apple and cherry flowers. Many crops and wild plant species are pollinated primarily by solitary bees and bumblebees, not honeybees.

The narrative around "saving the bees" has often focused disproportionately on honeybees, partly because they are relatable (they make honey, they have a keeper, they live in boxes). Some conservationists have expressed concern that this framing has led to a proliferation of urban beehives in cities where honeybee colonies are already relatively dense, potentially increasing competition with wild bees for urban forage rather than improving the situation.

Wild bee conservation requires different interventions from honeybee welfare: habitat creation, pesticide reduction, reduced disturbance to nesting sites, and connectivity between habitat patches.

What are farmers doing to help bees recover in Britain?

Agri-environment schemes have been the main policy mechanism for incentivising bee-friendly farm management. Under the old Common Agricultural Policy, the Countryside Stewardship scheme in England paid farmers to manage field margins, hedgerows, and grassland in ways that benefit pollinators. The UK's post-Brexit agricultural policy — the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship — continues and in some areas expands these payments.

Specific actions farmers are paid for include: establishing pollen and nectar seed mixes on field margins, maintaining hedgerows with delayed cutting schedules (to allow shrubs to flower and berry), managing rough grassland to allow wildflowers to establish, and leaving uncultivated field corners where solitary bees can nest in bare soil.

Flower-rich field margins have the strongest evidence base for bee benefit. A 6-metre uncultivated margin seeded with a pollen and nectar mix can support high densities of bumblebees and solitary bees throughout the season. Studies at rotational sites in England have found measurable increases in bumblebee queen numbers on farms with well-managed margins compared to conventional farms without them.

Some farmers and landowners have gone further by creating or restoring wildflower meadows, planting orchards, and managing grassland with traditional haymaking rather than silage — all of which benefit bee populations. These are expensive choices without subsidy. The willingness of individual farmers to go beyond the minimum is often the difference between a farm that supports rich bee communities and one that does not.

Conservation organisations including Plantlife, the Wildlife Trusts, and the RSPB run their own land management programmes focused on habitat creation, and work with Natural England and Defra on landscape-scale connectivity projects.

What can you do at home to support wild bees?

Individual garden planting is not a substitute for landscape-scale habitat policy, but it is not negligible either. UK gardens collectively cover around 400,000 hectares, and well-planted gardens in urban and suburban areas can provide significant foraging resource where farmland offers little.

Plant for sequence: choose species that flower from March through October so that bees have food across the whole season, not just in the summer peak. Early-season plants — willows, hawthorn, fruit trees, crocuses, hellebores — are critical for bumblebee queens emerging from hibernation. Late-season plants — ivy, Michaelmas daisy, heleniums — support colonies building up winter reserves and late-season solitary species.

Prefer open flowers: double-flowered cultivars (roses, dahlias, camellias bred for extra petals) often block access to nectar and pollen entirely. Single-flowered versions of the same species are generally far more bee-accessible.

Useful species for British gardens: borage, lavender, foxglove, comfrey, phacelia, catmint (Nepeta), alliums, single-flowered roses, hardy geraniums, knapweed, bird's-foot trefoil, and marjoram. Native wildflowers — clover, ox-eye daisy, cowslip, ragged robin — are the most valuable for the widest range of species.

Leave nesting habitat: female solitary bees nest in bare patches of soil, south-facing banks, hollow plant stems, or dead wood. Leaving some unplanted, undisturbed ground in a sunny spot is as useful as a flowering plant. Do not tidy stems in autumn until March — overwintering insects, including solitary bees, use hollow stems.

Avoid pesticides where possible: synthetic insecticides and some fungicides are harmful to bees and other pollinators. If you must treat a pest, do so when flowers are not open and at times of day when bees are not actively foraging.

Is there any evidence that bee populations are starting to recover?

For some species in some places, there is cautious evidence of improvement. For others, decline continues. The overall picture is not straightforwardly good or bad.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust reports that populations of some previously declining bumblebee species have stabilised or increased slightly in areas where targeted conservation work has taken place. The stone curlew and other grassland specialists have responded to targeted agri-environment management; the expectation is that bees in restored habitats show similar responses, and some monitoring data supports this.

The reinstatement of pollen and nectar margins on farmland through Countryside Stewardship has been associated with measurable increases in bumblebee worker abundance at field scale. Long-term datasets from the BWARS show that some solitary bee species that had contracted significantly are beginning to reappear in parts of their former range — particularly where habitat management has improved.

Neonicotinoid restrictions may be helping. There are early signals from some monitoring programmes that the ban on outdoor neonicotinoid use has reduced residue levels in wild plants at field margins, potentially reducing sub-lethal exposure for foraging bees. Definitive population-level attribution will take more years of data.

What has not improved is the baseline landscape. Wildflower meadow loss is a historical fact, not a current trend that has been reversed. The 97% of lowland meadow lost since the 1930s has not been restored; at best, small areas are being created or improved. Landscape-scale recovery would require far more extensive changes to land management than current agri-environment schemes deliver.

The honest assessment: things are better than they might have been without conservation effort, and worse than they need to be. The trajectory for some species has improved; the broader landscape context for wild bee populations in Britain remains difficult.

Frequently asked questions

How many bee species does Britain have?: Britain has approximately 270 species of bee: one honeybee species (Apis mellifera), 25 bumblebee species, and around 240 species of solitary bee.
Are bees actually declining in the UK?: Yes. Around a third of British bee species have declined in distribution since the 1980s. Some species have been lost from large parts of their historic range. Two bumblebee species have gone extinct in the UK in the last century.
What is causing bee decline in Britain?: The main causes are habitat loss (reduction of flower-rich grassland and hedgerows), pesticide use (particularly neonicotinoids), disease and parasites, and climate change. These factors compound each other.
Are honeybees declining?: Honeybee colony numbers have fluctuated but are generally more stable than wild bee populations in the UK, partly because managed hives receive veterinary treatments and beekeeper care. Wild bumblebees and solitary bees are in a more serious position.
What plants help bees in a British garden?: Native and near-native plants are most useful: borage, lavender, foxglove, comfrey, phacelia, catmint, single-flowered roses, alliums, and clover. Avoid double-flowered varieties, which block nectar access.