Also known as the two-coloured mason bee, this beautiful bee is famous for nesting in old snail shells.

The common carder bee is a fluffy, gingery bumble bee that can often be found in gardens and woods, and on farmland and heaths. It is a social bee, nesting in cavities, old birds' nests and…

The broad-bordered bee hawk-moth does, indeed, look like a bee! A scarce moth, mainly of Central and Southern England, it feeds on the wing and can be seen during spring and summer.

The appearance of semi-circular holes in the leaves of your garden plants is a sure sign that the patchwork leaf-cutter bee has been at work. It is one of a number of leaf-cutter bee species…

The Tawny mining bee is a furry, gingery bee that can often be seen in parks and gardens during the springtime. Look for a volcano-like mound of earth in the lawn that marks the entrance to its…

This black and grey solitary bee takes to the wing in spring, when it can be seen buzzing around burrows in open ground.

The shrill carder bee can be spotted flying quickly around flowers in unimproved pastures. The queens produce a loud, high-pitched buzz, hence the name. It is declining rapidly and is restricted…

The hairy-footed flower bee can be seen in gardens and parks in spring and summer, visiting tubular flowers like red dead-nettle and comfrey. As its name suggests, it has long, orange hairs on its…

The yellow flower heads of common ragwort are highly attractive to bees and other insects, including the cinnabar moth.