Working together to protect one of Scotland's rarest bees

If you’ve ever wandered through Speyside in late summer and noticed a tiny, busy bee fussing over purple flowers, you might have stumbled across one of Scotland’s rare insects, the amazing Small Scabious Mining Bee (Andrena marginata).

This mining bee is a solitary species. This means no hives, no queens, and no workers, just individual bees getting on with the job themselves. They’re on the wing (flying around) from mid-July through to mid-September. In Scotland, they’re incredibly localised, found mainly in Strathspey, with just two other known populations in Daviot and Glen Moriston - that makes every sighting pretty special.

Once the bees emerge from their nest holes and mate, the females head straight for the only plant they use, Devil’s-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis), with its distinctive purple flowers. They collect pollen using small hairs on their back legs, building it up until it looks like the female is wearing a pair of bloomers. Fully loaded, they fly back to their nest area, where each female digs down into the soil to create a series of chambers. In each one, she lays an egg, deposits the pollen, seals it up, and moves on to the next. The female continues this work until all her eggs are laid. 

Through Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms (RIC), we’re working with landowners, from large estates to members of the public, to better understand and support this species.

A big part of the work involves surveying to establish where the bee is or isn’t present. We’re also constantly on the lookout for new patches of Devil’s-bit Scabious to investigate. If the plant is there, there’s always a chance the bee might be too. This year, the project is taking things a step further with a mark-recapture survey along the River Spey.

The plan is that we capture a bee, mark it with a tiny dot of non-toxic paint, record its GPS location, and release it. If we recapture that same bee later in a different spot, we gain valuable insights into how far individuals are travelling. That important information tells us how far the bee can travel between patches of Devil’s-bit Scabious and nest areas.

Alongside the Speyside surveys, surveying in Deeside will be searching Devil's-bit Scabious sites to see if the bee could be found in the area for the first time. The long-term goal is to use the knowledge we're building to create “stepping stones” of Devil’s-bit Scabious across the landscape. By working with landowners and the public, we can hopefully help link up fragmented populations and give the species a better chance of thriving. 

Volunteers have made a huge difference across the Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms project. Their passion and dedication has not only helped to deliver on the ground action like surveys and monitoring, but also championed these often-overlooked species and encouraged more people to celebrate them.

In 2021, Kelly Powell began supporting RIC through volunteering while studying for her undergraduate degree. Her experience would go on to lead to an MSc Dissertation project exploring the nesting preferences of Small Scabious Mining Bee.

“Whilst out one day planting some devils bit scabious at a nest site for the small scabious mining bee, I got talking to Gen Tompkins, RIC Project Officer, about why the bees had chosen that site to nest. Gen highlighted how little was known about the nesting preferences of the species, as it was not something that had ever been properly researched before. This conversation became the inspiration for my undergraduate honours project in which I set out to determine some of the factors driving nest site selection.

"This novel area of research piqued the interest of my supervisor, who applied for funding to create a PhD position to study solitary, ground nesting bees further. I successfully applied for the position in 2024 and am now starting my first field season."

Kelly Powell, RIC Volunteer and researcher

Standing up for the little guys can build an even greater passion for wildlife, making a big impact for a small species.

If you’re curious to see these bees in action, Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms are hosting a public event on Saturday 8 August in Boat of Garten. There will be a short talk followed by a walk out to known nesting areas, where you can (hopefully) see the bees for yourself.

RIC is a partnership between six organisations: RSPB, Buglife, RZSS, the Cairngorms National Park Authority, and Butterfly Conservation.

Together, we’re working to improve the prospects for five rare invertebrates in the Cairngorms: Small Scabious Mining Bee, Kentish Glory, Aspen Hoverfly, Pine Hoverfly, and Dark Bordered Beauty, through survey work, habitat management, and public engagement. If you’d like to learn more about any of the project species or get involved, get in touch at rare.invertebrates@rspb.org.uk.

This project is supported by the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund, managed by NatureScot, and the Scottish Government’s zoos and aquariums fund, and relies on critical funding from the Cairngorms National Park Authority, The Cairngorms Trust, Forestry and Land Scotland, Marvelous Europe Inc., NatureScot, The National Geographic Society, Cheeky Panda and the John Swire 1989 Charitable Trust.

Surveys and monitoring are supported by the Species Volunteer Network, made possible thanks to players of the Postcode Lottery.