Page 6 - little-book-of-bees-us

For the last 800
years, Britain has
been known as the
Isle of Honey.
While the honeybee
is indigenous to
Britain, it is thought
that beekeeping
was introduced by
the Romans, with
honey and wax
later becoming so
important that we
used to pay our
taxes with them.
Today the main
pollinators of
British crops and
wildflowers – bees,
hoverflies, butterflies
and moths – are in
dramatic decline.
More than 250
species are
threatened with
extinction and three
bumblebee species
have already
become extinct.
there are two
types of bumblebee:
bombus which live in
small colonies and psithyrus
or Cuckoo Bees which lay
their eggs in the nests
of other bumblebees
for them to raise.
Bumble
bees
Recognisable by their thick
furry coats, which allow
them to forage even in
cold weather,
4
Buf f tai led
bumblebeeTerrestris
Common carder
bumblebeePascuorum
Garden
bumblebeeHortorum
Whi te tai led
bumblebeeLucorum