Where Britain's wild bees live

Understanding UK Bees

How Many Bee Species Live in the United Kingdom?

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The United Kingdom is home to around 270 bee species. Most people only notice the honeybee and a handful of common bumblebees, but the majority of British bees are solitary species: small, ground-nesting or cavity-nesting bees that pollinate without forming colonies. Of the roughly 270 recorded species, 24 are bumblebees, one is the Western Honeybee, and the remaining 245 or so are solitary bees spanning mining bees, mason bees, leafcutter bees, plasterer bees, and furrow bees.

These solitary species are responsible for a disproportionate share of wild pollination in the UK. Research published in Nature Communications found that one-third of wild bee and hoverfly species experienced significant distribution losses between 1980 and 2013, driven by habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change. The decline is most severe among habitat specialists: bees that depend on specific flowers, soil types, or coastal conditions.

Where Are the Richest Areas for Bees in the UK?

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The South East of England records the highest bee diversity, with around 240 species documented across chalk downland, heathland, and the Sussex and Kent coasts. East Anglia follows closely, where the sandy Breckland heaths and saltmarsh coasts support specialist species like the Sea Aster Bee and dense colonies of mining bees. Wessex and the South Coast, including the New Forest and Dorset cliffs, hold around 230 species.

Northern regions are less species-rich but ecologically vital. The Scottish Highlands and Hebrides are the last refuge of the Great Yellow Bumblebee, once found across the whole of Britain but now restricted to fewer than 50 known colonies on machair grassland. The Pinewood Mason Bee survives only in Caledonian pine forest remnants in the Cairngorms.

Yorkshire and the Humber region, where our British honey originates, records around 185 species. The Heather Colletes nests on the same moorland that produces our raw British Heather Honey, harvested once a year during the August heather bloom.

Endangered and Declining Bees in Britain

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Several UK bee species are now critically rare. The Large Mason Bee (Osmia xanthomelana) clings to just three soft-cliff sites on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. The Shrill Carder Bee (Bombus sylvarum) has contracted to five isolated strongholds, including the Thames Estuary brownfield sites and the Gwent Levels in South Wales. The Potter Flower Bee survives at roughly three locations on the southern coast.

The Short-haired Bumblebee was declared extinct in the UK in 2000, then reintroduced from Swedish stock to Romney Marsh from 2012 onwards. Whether these reintroduction efforts will establish a self-sustaining population remains uncertain.

Conservation efforts are making a difference. Targeted wildflower planting, reduced mowing regimes, and the creation of pollinator corridors are helping stabilise populations in monitored areas. Every garden, allotment, and window box that provides forage from March to October contributes to the wider effort.

Why We Built This Map

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HoneyBee & Co. exists because of bees. Our six-generation beekeeping heritage gives us a front-row seat to the pressures wild and managed bees face. We built this interactive map as part of our Bee Education Hub to make distribution data accessible to anyone interested in British wildlife, whether you are a gardener wondering which bees visit your flowers, a student researching pollinator ecology, or a land manager planning habitat restoration.

The data draws on records from the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society, the National Biodiversity Network Atlas, and published research. We have documented over 50 individual species profiles in our bee species encyclopedia, each with identification tips, habitat notes, and conservation status.

If you would like to support pollinator-friendly beekeeping directly, browse our raw honey range. Every jar is traceable to its origin, and our apiaries are managed with bee welfare as the first priority.