Large Garden Bumblebee (Bombus ruderatus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - hymenopteran > Bumblebee |
| Red List Status: | (Not Relevant) [(not listed)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Bombus ruderatus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Fabricius, 1775) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | (not listed) |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Much declined in England, some evidence of recent stabilisation/low levels of increase & spread. Doing well where there have been habitat interventions for long-tongued bumblebees. Some evidence of spread beyond these areas. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Requires a review of its status, and bespoke management. Pollen and nectar margins working well but continued action necessary to achieve full recovery. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | As well as large areas of late flowering clover-rich grassland, this species requires rough grass/scrubby areas for nesting habitat, and banks for hibernation habitat. Responds well to clover-rich field margins, and uses river banks. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Responds well to clover-rich field margins. Less known about habitat management in other habitats. River Valleys especially important in the midlands - research into the landscape connectivity of these river valleys especially with respect to open species-rich grassland areas. Early (April, May, June) flowering is key for overwintered queens and colony establishment. Difficult to separate from similar species (hortorum) so easily overlooked |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Conduct large-scale habitat creation/restoration and management of flower-rich/ legume rich grassland, and providing early season forage in April/May, targeted at extant and extinct sites. Conservation actions for this species relatively well-understood in certain habitat types, such as field margins, but need to be deployed at a sufficient scale to make a difference.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat creation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Research into optimal management of other habitat types such as dune grassland, that is, habitats other than arable farmland habitats (which is where most of the research on this species has been conducted so far), to find out how the species uses this habitat in terms of nesting and foraging preferences. This will inform decisions around management and habitat creation in these other habitat types.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Once requirements are known across a variety of habitats, and trial solutions tested, roll out more widely. Target areas where there are current records, across a variety of habitat types, such as arable field margins, dune grassland and pasture, and in buffer areas surrounding known populations in order to increase connectivity across the wider landscape.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.