Mohamed bin Zayed Fund helps reverse decline in rare UK bees

The long-horned bee was once widespread in southern England

A colony of one of the UK’s rarest bees has been identified with the support of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund. The long-horned bee, Eucera longicornis, was once widespread in southern England but has suffered a serious decline in recent years as a result of threats.

Those threats include the disappearance of the pea plants they feed on, the move away from clifftop animal grazing, increasingly intensive agriculture and coastal erosion, which has removed several nesting sites.

Fewer than 30 known sites remain in southern England, six of which are in the county of Cornwall in the south-west, where 18 sites have been lost.

But a new site has been discovered by ecological consultant Kernow Ecology, that received a grant from the fund in 2017 to help protect the species.

“The fund’s objectives include the raising awareness of the importance of individual species in the broader debate about conservation through the provision of small, targeted grants to individual species conservation initiatives,” said Razan Al Mubarak, managing director of the fund.

“The work in Cornwall provides an excellent example of how a small grant can make a real difference.”

Bees are critically important pollinators, helping to fertilise plants so that they can produce fruit and seeds for new growth.

Bees pollinate 70 of the 100 fruit, vegetable and nut crop species that feed 90 per cent of the world’s population.

If they die, so would the plants they pollinate. If this happens, experts say the world would lose half the vegetables and fruit that are available today.