Mike Edwards and Martin Jenner 2005 108 pages Pocketbook (E010) Bumblebees are social bees with an important role in pollinating wild and cultivated plants. In the UK there are (or were) 22 species - one has recently been declared extinct. A problem has been the difficulty of identifying the different species, that until now required expert knowledge and the use of a microscope. This excellent book describes how to identify bumblebees using the new three-step method. This will assist the UK’s army of amateur naturalists and professional field workers who have been monitoring decades of decline in Britain's native bumblebees. This is how the method works: Step one is to look for the presence and number of yellow bands on the bee's thorax. Step two is to cross check with the pattern on the abdomen: using the colour chart allows quick identification of most species. Step three is to confirm identification with the photographs and species accounts given in the text. The guide has been developed by entomologist Mike Edwards and Martin Jenner who developed the book's strong visuals, that make the three-step identification simple to use. The guide contains over 90 colour photographs of both sexes of all 22 known species. It is hoped that by making bumblebee identification easier, better data will be available to ensure their future protection. The decline of bumblebees in the UK has been measured only for a few, very rare species but it is clear from surveys that even the currently most abundant species have suffered declines of similar proportions. Since the 1970s some species have declined by over 60%. Order usually dispatched between 4-6 weeks.