Short-haired Bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus)
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 subterraneus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| 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: | Considered extinct, despite attempted reintroduction |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Requires further reintroduction if we are to re-establish the species |
| 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: | Considered extinct, would require reintroduction |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Combination or other (detail in comments) |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | Difficult to separate from other species. Low recovery potential because requires reintroduction |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Reintroduce a genetically sustainable population from donor sites in Sweden into an area of suitable habitat at Dungeness and surrounding area. This has been done already over a 10 year period. However, this reintroduction was unsuccessful so requires a complete re-assessment of techniques used to ensure suitability.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Dungeness and Romney Marsh
Comments: Long duration of project required.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Habitat management of flower-rich areas by ensuring early, mid and late forage is available for successful colony development across its whole life cycle. This is achieved by planting additional forage plants (e.g. legumes, deadnettles, comfrey, black horehound), and adjusting cutting/grazing regimes to achieve continual flowering. In light of the failure of the first reintroduction species and timings should be evaluated against the rest of the European range, especially the Swedish source population. Target sites surrounding the release sites to encourage expansion, ensuring that a large enough area to support a population is managed before releases begin.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: South Kent, East Sussex
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Testing suitability of habitat interventions in key areas, such as re-seeding to flower-rich grassland in arable areas by monitoring the species in and around release sites to check its establishment.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat creation
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.