Bumblebee

1. Pressure from supermarkets and consumers for more and more perfect, unblemished crops at a cheap price is driving farmers towards agricultural intensification and increased chemical inputs (pesticides and fertilisers).
2. As bumblebees only feed on flowers, they need far more plants than other species which are able to also eat leaves or roots.
3. Actions which reduce the number of flowers in the countryside are having a huge impact on bumblebee survival. 97% of flower-rich meadows have been lost since 1937.
4. Bumblebees are great pollinators, and therefore have a key role in producing much of the food that we eat.
5. Without them many plants that form the basis of complex food chains would be compromised, affecting further wildlife such as other insects, birds and mammals.