A rare bee is creating a buzz after excited experts spotted the insect in Cornwall.

The nationally scarce Red Bartsia Bee has been discovered by Buglife and the National Trust at Godrevy Farm, near Gwithian on the coast of north Cornwall.

Previously this bee had only been known from one other site in the area, when it was last seen in Cornwall in 2022, having first been recorded there 20 years previously.

The bee is a relatively small bee in decline nationally, with dull brown hair and narrow white bands across its abdomen. It is mainly seen in SE England with very rare sightings in the SW. Their name comes from their habit of foraging on and collecting pollen from the Red Bartsia plant. The plant’s flowering determines the bees’ flight plans.

The Red Bartsia was found at Godrevy by Nick Holden from the National Trust and North Devon entomologist Paddy Saunders after conservation work by Buglife in 2022 where the Red Bartsia plant was introduced to the site from locally harvested seed.

Paddy said: “I was extremely pleased to find the Red Bartsia Bee at Godrevy National Trust this year.

“We found males and females, which was great as this indicated the bee had colonised following us sowing the food plant.”

Paddy was impressed that this small bee could immediately sniff out their host plant, especially because the nearest known colony is over one kilometre away and there are no patches of Red Bartsia plants between that colony and Godrevy.

He said: “This is good evidence that simple interventions to conserve threatened bees can be effective very quickly.”

Buglife’s People for Pollinators is made possible with the National Lottery Heritage Fund and supports the Buglife ‘B-Line’ project connects insect-rich habitat to support the nearly 300 wild bee species.

To find out more and get involved, please visit buglife.org.uk/projects/kernow-wyls-people-for-pollinators or email [email protected]