Shrill Carder Bee (Bombus sylvarum)
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 sylvarum |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1761) |
| 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: | Massively declined in England - restricted to 2 population areas (a further 3 in Wales) |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Needs trials of recovery solutions and bespoke management |
| 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: | This species benefits from disturbance to create early successional stages, and has a close association with Red bartsia and Knapweed. Untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics is likely to be of some benefit but targeted bespoke management will also be essential. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 6. Recovery solutions trialled |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | Flies low to the ground and well-camouflaged, and can be low in number, so can be difficult to record unless in high numbers. A conversation strategy for the species was published in 2020 (Page et al., 2020). |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Conduct habitat creation/restoration and management to create habitat with late flowering plants, e.g. knapweed, Red bartsia, Black horehound, early season plants such as comfrey, and long grass/scrub edge for nesting, and improve evidence on effectiveness. Conservation for this species by BBCT has been carried out previously under projects Back from the Brink and Making a Buzz for the Coast, and currently under SOS Somerset (2023). Ongoing assessment & evaluation of the species' use of habitat, especially plant species, nesting & hibernation sites, and assessment outside the mid-summer period.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat creation
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 100 sites
High priority sites: London, Thames Estuary/Somerset
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Based on results of previous action, provide landscape scale habitat creation and management of late flowering flower-rich habitats with nesting habitat of rough grassland/scrub. Roll out widely across known population areas (In England - Somerset and Thames estuary). Bespoke land management advice is required to current habitat management plans, with an emphasis on late flowering plants
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Landscape/catchment/marine management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: London, Thames Estuary, Somerset
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Provide targeted, in-person, land management advice in areas in and around its current distribution, on how to create connected, flower rich grassland with scrubby/rough grassland for nesting, and provide support to land managers in implementing and maintaining this habitat. Monitor species' response
Action targets: 8. Species recovering
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.