The Reef machair. Credit: John Bowler, RSPB Scotland
11 November 2026
A nature reserve on the island of Tiree in Scotland has been officially recognised for its outstanding work to protect one of the UK’s rarest bumblebees, the Great Yellow bumblebee.
RSPB Scotland’s The Reef nature reserve has been awarded Great Yellow bumblebee Champion Site certification by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. The award celebrates places where Great Yellow bumblebees are present, regularly monitored and supported through land management that provides the flower-rich habitat and nesting areas they need.
The Great Yellow bumblebee is now found only in the far north coast of the Scottish mainland, as well as Orkney and some of the Hebridean islands. Its population and distribution have declined since the 1960’s, largely because of the loss of flower-rich habitat such as machair, a rare grassland found only on a few coastlines in Scotland and Ireland.
Although it is Scotland’s most threatened bumblebee, Great Yellow bumblebees have been monitored at The Reef RSPB nature reserve for more than 25 years. The reserve is managed in conjunction with local livestock managers to allow for the growth of machair.
A grazing break from June to October allows plants such as Hebridean spotted orchid and early marsh orchid, along with a wide range of nectar-rich flowers, to bloom and set seed. This creates valuable feeding and nesting habitat for the Great Yellow bumblebee to survive.
Cattle grazing at The Reef. Credit: John Bowler, RSPB Scotland
John Bowler, Tiree Officer at RSPB Scotland, said: “We’ve been monitoring Great Yellow bumblebees at The Reef nature reserve for more than 25 years, with the management of machair a key part of protecting their habitat. It’s great to be recognised for this work protecting such a rare species.”
Katy Malone, Conservation Projects Manager for Scotland at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said: “We are delighted to be able to recognise the consistent efforts of the RSPB management at this reserve for this very rare and beautiful bumblebee. Sites like these are few and far between, and Great Yellows need all the help they can get.”
With its distinctive large, bright yellow body and a single black stripe across the middle of its thorax, the Great Yellow bumblebee was once widespread across the UK. The species is now extinct in England and Wales, making Scotland its last remaining home in the UK.