UK
The Bees of Monmouthshire Recording Project supports bee recording and conservation in the UK, documenting hundreds of often-overlooked species across gardens, parks, farmland, and wild spaces. This work helps fill knowledge gaps about local bee distributions while highlighting the diversity of species beyond bumblebees and honey bees.
In a world where insect numbers are declining drastically and many species are becoming increasingly threatened, we need enough information to be able to support and protect these valuable pollinators. This project aims to increase our knowledge and awareness of all bee species at a local scale, encouraging the public to get involved in monitoring their populations and protecting their habitats.
Fieldwork & Recording
Increasing the raw data for under-recorded bee species in the vice county of Monmouthshire is the first target of the BOM recording project. Biological recording data is vital for understanding the distribution and ecology of these bees and the project team has contributed over 1500 new records since the project began. This has involved visiting over 50 different sites across the county, from the tops of mountains to the wetlands on the coast. There are also a number of project volunteers, who have logged more than 600 additional records on the iRecord platform.
Our results so far have already proved the value of this work, with new records of rare species not seen for almost 20 years and of four species never previously recorded in the county, with one of these also new for the country of Wales!
Outreach & Engagement
We share our green spaces, often unknowingly, with a great diversity of bee species and frequently destroy or degrade important habitats without realising. The BOM recording project is working to increase awareness and educate the public on the ecology of different bees and encourage specific, pollinator-friendly management of all habitats.
The project provides talks on the diversity, life-histories and habitats of UK bees, with more than 10 talks given so far to a range of different audiences and over 400 attendees combined.
Over 100 people have also connected with their local bee species through guided walks around bee habitats around residential areas in Monmouthshire. These walks highlight just how close these fascinating species are, detailing how and when to find them and giving people a chance to see them up-close, often for the first time. They also demonstrate the value of small areas of local habitat to insect conservation.
Training & Skills
Part of the reason for the lack of information on many bee species is the difficulty of identification, with many requiring microscope examination and expert verification. Therefore, the lack of skills, experience and equipment needed to collect and create entomological specimens can be a barrier to potential recorders. The BOM recording project is working to upskill recorders and support them recording the species that need it most.
The three one-day workshops run so far have focused on guiding attendees through finding, identifying and collecting bees in the field, processing and handling specimens and identifying species using dichotomous keys. The 23 participants gained practical experience identifying bees in local pollinator habitats and working under the microscope using the projects specimen collection. The project has also invested in three microscopes and field guides for volunteer recorders to use.
Resources for the Future
The Bees of Monmouthshire recording project is working to create a lasting impact on the knowledge and monitoring of all bee species in Monmouthshire and across the UK. Collating all previous data, and undertaking extensive fieldwork through 2024 and 2025, has allowed for the creation of a more robust county checklist, which will serve as a reference for future recorders and conservationists. An illustrated copy of this checklist will be available in print.
The projects outputs have been used to create an open-access website, which will serve as a fantastic resource for discovering the diversity of bee species found in Monmouthshire. The site includes studio photography of over 140 different bee species, along with species profiles and other information to support recorders into the future.
Case Study
One great success of this project’s survey work has been making the first two county records of Epeolus cruciger (or the Black-thighed Epeolus) at different sites in Monmouthshire. Epeolus has only two UK species and is one of our more unique looking bee genera, with compact bodies, coloured patterned eyes, and dense patches of scale-like hairs forming neat patches on the abdomen.
They are kleptoparasitic or ‘cuckoo’ bees, that use the hard work of another species, in this case Colletes succinctus (The Heather plasterer bee), to feed their young. The female Epeolus sneaks into and lays her eggs in the nests of C. succinctus, with her young hatching first and devouring the store of heather pollen before the other larvae get a chance.
The hosts of E. cruciger rely on pollen they collect from heather and so both species are only found in heather-rich habitats, such as heaths and moorlands. The first county record of this species was made on top of Sugar Loaf Mountain, seemingly an unexpected place for nesting bees!
Epeolus cruciger female
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