Bee identification guide

When to see them: March-November (sometimes year-round in the south).

Nesting habits: Old burrows and cavities.

ID tips: Distinctive yellow and black bands and a white tail.

Description: The classic stripy bumblebees. Several species of bumblebee have this colour pattern.

See our guide to the most common species of banded white-tailed bumblebees.

When to see them: April-November.

Nesting habits: Old burrows or tussocks.

ID tips: Black body and an orange tail. Male red-tailed bumblebees have a yellow ruff.

Description: Of the three species this colour, you are most likely to see the red-tailed bumblebee, but check for dark-winged red-tailed cuckoo bees which are nest parasites.

See our guide to red-tailed black bumblebees.

When to see them: March-July.

Nesting habits: Cavities above ground.

ID tips: Ginger thorax, black abdomen and a white tail. Black underside.

Description: This distinctive bumblebee first arrived in the UK in 2001. Your records can help us track its spread. As its name suggests it prefers to nest in trees, also using bird boxes and buildings.

When to see them: March-October.

Nesting habits: Beehives or cavities above ground.

ID tips: Abdomen with amber bands or completely black. Buff-haired thorax. Rear legs bare and shiny.

Description: Most honeybees in the UK live in hives managed by beekeepers. Each hive can contain over 20,000 bees. Only worker honeybees make delicious honey, using nectar gathered from flowers.

When to see them: March-June.

Nesting habits: Bee nest parasite.

ID tips: Grey collar. White spots along abdomen. Sometimes all-black. Pointed rear.

Description: The common mourning bee is a ‘cuckoo bee’. She lays her eggs in the nests of hairy-footed flower bees, where the larvae eat the food stores gathered for the flower bee’s own young.

When to see them: May-August.

Nesting habits: Aerial nesters including bee hotels.

ID tips: Broad head and body. Females have a brush of hairs under the abdomen.

Description: Found neat crescents cut from your rose bush? That's a sign that leafcutter bees are about. The female uses the leaves to line her chosen nest cavity and build snug cells for her young.

When to see them: March-June.

Nesting habits: Aerial nester including bee hotels.

ID tips: Bristly orange hair with dark head and thorax showing through. Males have white face hairs. Female collects pollen under abdomen.

Description: A common resident of bee hotels and stone walls. Females gather mud to build their nest cells and are efficient pollinators of fruit-tree blossoms. Smaller males hover around nest sites.

When to see them: March-June.

Nesting habits: Ground nester.

ID tips: Black with double ashy bands across the thorax.

Description: This monochrome mining bee often nests in large aggregations along sunny footpaths and short turf, though each female has her own nest. This bee is an important pollinator of oilseed rape.

When to see them: May-August.

Nesting habits: Ground and cliff nester.

ID tips: Grey-brown hair. Males have very long antennae. Females have a white tail.

Description: The male long-horned bee has unmistakeable oversized antennae. This declining bee is reliant on open habitats rich in legume flowers such as vetches and trefoils with nearby earth banks for nesting.

When to see them: April-September.

Nesting habits: In cavities or tree branches.

ID tips: Cone-shaped abdomen with yellow stripes. Builds a paper nest.

Description: Social wasps live in nests made out of chewed wood. Though often seen as pests, they are important for pollination and pest control. The workers hunt insects to feed the larvae and visit flowers for nectar.

When to see them: March-August.

Nesting habits: Bee nest parasite.

ID tips: Long proboscis. Short antennae. Hovers around flowers.

Description: Bee flies not only look like bees, they live with them. Females fling their eggs into solitary bee burrows where the larvae eat the pollen stores. The adult flies like deadnettle and primrose flowers.