Iconic Bees: 12 reports on UK bee species Bees are vital to the ecology of the UK and provide significant social and economic benefits through crop pollination and maintaining the character of the landscape. Recent years have seen substantial declines in many species of bees within the UK. This report takes a closer look at how 12 ‘iconic’ bee species are faring in each English region, as well as Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Authors Rebecca L. Evans and Simon G. Potts, University of Reading. Photo: © Amelia Collins Contents 1 Summary 2 East England Sea-aster Mining Bee 6 East Midlands Large Garden Bumblebee 10 London Buff-tailed Bumblebee 14 North East Bilberry Bumblebee 18 North West Wall Mason Bee 22 Northern Ireland Northern Colletes 26 Scotland Great Yellow Bumblebee 30 South East England Potter Flower Bee 34 South West England Scabious Bee 38 Wales Large Mason Bee 42 West Midlands Long-horned Bee 46 Yorkshire Tormentil Mining Bee Through collating information on the 12 iconic bee species, common themes have Summary emerged on the causes of decline, and the actions that can be taken to help reverse it. The most pervasive causes of bee species decline are to be found in the way our countryside has changed in the past 60 years. Intensification of grazing regimes, an increase in pesticide use, loss of biodiverse field margins and hedgerows, the trend towards sterile monoculture, insensitive development and the sprawl of towns and cities are the main factors in this. I agree with the need for a comprehensive Bee Action Plan led by the UK Government in order to counteract these causes of decline, as called for by Friends of the Earth. But households and communities, local authorities and agencies, and devolved governments can also make a significant difference. And while it’s critical that the UK Government acts to reverse the decline in all bee species, some of the iconic bees identified in this research also have very specific and local needs. Overarching Recommendations include: > Governmenti, local wildlife groups and local authorities to raise awareness of bee diversity and pollinators’ ecological and economic importance. > Government to ensure further surveying and monitoring of wild bees to establish more accurate population numbers and changes. > Government to ensure there is enough expertise and advice available for landowners, local authorities and farmers to inform bee-friendly land management. > Government, local wildlife groups and local authorities to promote sympathetic grazing regimes to landowners and farmers that ensure adequate bee-friendly forage availability until the end of summer/early autumn. > Government to encourage farmers to take-up the most beneficial Agri-Environment options such as sowing pollen and nectar mixes, buffer strips, wildflower margins, sympathetically managed hay meadows and semi-natural grasslands. These options need to be widely available and financially viable for the landowner. > Government to set quantitative targets for the reduction of all pesticide use and to encourage the use of alternative pest management methods. > Government to ensure protection for sites of importance to rare and threatened bees, for example with SSSI designation. > Local planning authorities to ensure that biodiversity priority lists and action plans are consulted as part of their consideration of any planning or development proposals, and damage to priority species and habitats avoided. > Government and local planning authorities to encourage developers to include bee- friendly habitat when carrying out developments. > Planning authorities to identify important populations of rare or threatened bee species and significant sites for bees in their local plans, ensuring that they are adequately protected. > Local authorities and local wildlife groups to encourage gardeners and local communities to grow more wild and/or bee-friendly plants in open spaces and gardens. > Local authorities to grow more bee friendly plants in parks and open spaces. These actions cut across various policy areas and involve multiple actors. Friends of the Earth’s call for a Bee Action Plan is primarily aimed at the UK Government, but would involve devolved governments, key stakeholders such as farmers, bee keepers, local authorities and agencies to advise on its content and implementation. Simon G. Potts, Professor of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading. i Government refers to UK Government or where powers are devolved to the relevant devolved Government 1 East England Sea-aster Mining Bee Common name: Sea-aster Mining Bee Scientific name: Colletes halophilus Description This attractive solitary bee belongs to a group known as ‘mining bees’, a term relating to their habit of excavating burrows in the earth in which to nest. The females are 11-14mm long with rich reddish brown hair on the thorax and black abdomen with distinct pale hair bands. The males are similar but smaller at 8-12mm and generally paler. Distribution and Status > C. halophilus is globally very limited in its distribution, being found only in low-lying coastal areas of the eastern English Channel, the Atlantic coast of France and the southern North Sea. > Within the UK it is distributed along suitable coasts of the east and south of England from Spurn point to the very east coast of Dorset. East England is a key area > East Anglia and the Thames Estuary are particularly significant strongholds. Due for the Colletes halophilus. to such a localised worldwide distribution, it could be argued, in a global context, © Map copyright: See back cover. that it is the UK’s most ‘important’ bee species. > The species is restricted to the coast, occurring at near sea-level habitats such as saltmarsh, sea walls, dune systems, low cliffs and behind beaches. Colletes halophilus is on the England Biodiversity Strategy S41 species list (previously the UK List of Priority Species and Habitats under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP)) and although not included in the Red Data Book by Shirt (1987), was later revised by Falk (1991) to Nationally Notable (Na). Ecology and Behaviour > The female C. halophilus excavates short, curved nesting burrows from exposed bare soil at the end of which she builds a cluster of five or six nest partitions or ‘cells’. In each cell the female lays an egg provisioned with pollen and a little nectar (normally from Sea Aster) that the growing bee (larva) will feed on. 2 > It will then undergo metamorphosis, forming a pupa in which it totally transforms, Key Facts: later breaking through its cell to emerge from the burrow as the adult. Females will nest very close together at the same site in an aggregation (sometimes numbering > Could be argued, in a global thousands); however they still ‘work’ completely independently from one another and context, as being the UK’s most are not social insects. ‘important’ bee species. > Emergence of the first individuals takes place around mid-August; the males first, > The name halophilus means ‘salt followed by the females. As females emerge, large numbers of males can sometimes loving’ after the habitat it is found be seen ‘mobbing’ the females, clustering into what is known as a ‘mating ball’. After in, saltmarsh. mating takes place the females start building their nest burrows, laying eggs and > Saltmarsh has declined by 50% provisioning them with food. worldwide. > The bee not only needs to collect pollen for its young, it needs this protein itself plus Best places to see: The saltmarshes energy from sugary nectar in order to remain active as long as possible. Individuals of of north Norfolk and North Essex this species gather nectar from a wide range of plant species but the females will only such as the Blackwater estuary. collect pollen from plants of the family Asteraceae, namely Sea Aster (Aster tripolium). > The foraging and nesting activity of C. halophilus will continue until around the middle of September or occasionally early November by which time all individuals will have died; the males first followed by the females. The young overwinter in their cells and emerge in the summer as their parents did the previous year and the whole cycle begins again. > Over a quarter of British bee species are known as cleptoparasites or ‘Cuckoo Bees’. This means that they enter nests of other bees and lay their own egg in an occupied cell, which in turn hatches and eats both host larva and pollen provision. The cuckoo bee Epeolus variegatus is the parasite of C. halophilus. Causes of Decline and Conservation > Due to this bee’s habit of nesting almost at sea level, the most obvious threats to its survival are habitat loss due to coastal development (sea defences, urbanisation etc.), erosion and sea-level rise. > Worldwide saltmarsh habitat has declined by an estimated 50% (Mossman et al, 2012). The JNCC reports 58% of current UK saltmarsh to be in ‘favourable’ condition. > Saltmarsh is a protected habitat under the EU Habitats Directive and as a consequence any losses of the habitat due to erosion or urbanisation etc. must either be restored or replaced under the commitments of the directive. > The driving factors of decline can cause loss of the required stable substrate in which the bees nest and loss of its preferred food-plant Sea Aster. It is made even more vulnerable in having an extremely localised distribution and these factors are applicable throughout its global range, not just the U.K. > The effects of habitat loss on this species take time to come about, this is because the Sea Aster it thrives on occurs in the centre of saltmarsh and so is not the first bit of land to be lost to erosion, sea-level rise etc. This may explain why large-scale declines have not yet been recorded. > The east of England is a stronghold for C.