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(Image: Stephen Dalton/Naturepl.com )

This lonely bee will be buzzing solo after British honeybees suffered their worst winter losses since records began in 2007.

The says that a third of all the country’s honeybee colonies were lost in the winter of 2012/13 – more than double the attrition suffered the previous winter.

The erosion of the bee population was due to wet weather and a late spring, leading to a shortage of pollen. Things were already bad for these essential insects, as they are dying off in horrifying numbers around the world, with neonicotinoid pesticides and mystery viruses or fungi causing colonies to collapse.

Thankfully it’s not all bad news for bees – not to mention the plant life worldwide that depends on them. A study released last month reported that the loss of bumblebee species diversity has slowed in the UK, while the range of solitary bee species rose. Honeybees weren’t included in the study of wild insects because they are considered domesticated.

Not only do honeybees pollinate crops and provide us with delicious honey, they also show extraordinary intelligence for an animal with a brain the size of a pinhead. Read more in “Hive minds: Honeybee intelligence creates a buzz“.