Brown-banded Carder Bee Bombus humilis

The Brown-banded Carder Bee (Bombus humilis) is one of Britain’s rarest bumblebees, a surface-nesting species of flower-rich, unimproved grassland on warm, well-drained soils. It has declined severely across the UK and is now largely confined to a handful of strongholds in southern England and Wales. Suffolk holds records from coastal grassland and heathland edge habitats, and the county sits within the eastern margin of its remaining range. Long-tongued and dependent on a diverse sward of pollen and nectar-rich flowers, it is particularly associated with clovers, knapweeds, and bird’s-foot trefoil. Maintaining unimproved, flower-rich grassland through traditional management is central to its conservation. Image: © Hawk Honey, Flickr.

Find out more: iNaturalist, Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society, Bumblebee Conservation Trust