Bumblebees in Crisis!

Bumblebees are fascinating and beautiful creatures that deserve conserving in their own right. However, there are also good ecological and economic reasons for looking after them.

Bumblebees are major pollinators of our wildflowers. If bumblebees disappear then these plants will produce fwer seeds. This would result in sweeping changes to the countryside. Our countryside would lose its colour. Many rare plants might disappear. In fact, there is evidence that this process is already underway.

These changes would have catastrophic knock-on effects for other wildlife. Butterflies, birds and mammals would all suffer if bees disappeared. Bumblebees are "keystone species" and they should be a conservation priority.

Learn more about our conservation work - click here

Bumblebees are worth millions of pounds to the economy. They give us affordable "five-a-day" fruit and vegetables.

Many crops depend on bumblebees for pollination to varying degrees. Beans, fruits, tomatoes and soft fruit crops all need insect pollination. In total the value of Europe's insect pollinators is estimated at €14.2 billion.

Imagine if bee declines continued... We wouldn't starve, but we would have to eat much more rice, pasta and bread. A healthy diet would become much more expensive - perhaps unaffordable for some?

Now imagine a different future, in which our towns and countryside are rich in colourful wildflowers and teeming with bees, other beneficial insects and a diversity of wildlife for everyone to enjoy...

So what should be done?

We are passionate about conserving our remaining bumblebee populations, and trying reverse their declines. We need your help.

Sadly, nature reserves are not enough on their own. Bumblebee nests are large and each nest needs a large area of flowery habitat. To support healthy populations, sensitive bee-friendly management needs to be carried out throughout the UK!

• We need to provide farmers and land managers with advice on how to help bees. Small changes can make a big difference. There are simple ways to encourage wildflowers in hedgerows, meadows and orchards

• We need to help farmers to make good use of agri-environment schemes. Although schemes are available, very few farmers currently manage their land to help bees. We need to raise awareness of the bee-friendly options and help farmers to get the best out of them. 
  
  
• In gardens and other urban areas nationwide we need to encourage the use wildflowers and traditional cottage-garden plants. We need many more colourful wildflowers in urban areas!
  Learn more about how you can help...
  
  
• The solution is simple!
  By whatever means possible we need to create a mosaic of flower-rich habitat across the whole of the UK. Bumblebees need small patches of wildflowers here and there in field corners, margins, gardens, waste ground, roadside verges - anywhere really!
  
  If people put in the flowers, the bees will find them...
  
  Join us today and help us to turn this vision into a reality....

The plight of the bumblebee - BBCT's Conservation Officer for England and Wales (Dr. Pippa Rayner) explains all about bumblebees, their amazing lives and what we can all do to help them

Filmed in Pembrokeshire, this beautiful and fascinating video will tell you all about bumblebees and will give you BBCT's perspective on bumblebee declines and the role that everyone can play in helping them to thrive.

The Plight of the Bumblebee from Tom Luddington on Vimeo.

Saving the bumblebee - a video by independent filmmaker Jamie-Lee Loughlin

This film was produced with input from BBCT.

Note that here is some debate over whether the honeybee is native to the UK (mentioned in the film). BBCT think that the honeybee is probably native to the UK. The bulk of the UK honeybee population is, however, domesticated. It is unclear how common or widespread the honeybee would be without the help of beekeepers.

Saving the Bumblebee from Jamie-Lee Loughlin on Vimeo.