WildBristol.uk - Discovering Wildlife in Bristol

Common and widespread as cultivated for honey throughout the UK. Habitat includes: Everywhere especially in areas rich in flowers such as gardens, parks, allotments, cemeteries, farms, meadows, road side verges, scrub, heathland etc. Flight period: All year round but is more dormant in the winter months and relies on reserves made during the summer. Length= 12mm. There are no wild honey bees in the UK today but they can become feral. The Native European Black Honey Bee is the common cultivated bee but increasingly other species are being used instead that are less susceptible to the mite (Varroa jacobsoni) which is causing its rapid decline along with habitat loss, climate change and loss of native flowers.