THE short-haired bumble bee is the 154th species to become extinct in Britain this century, said the World Wide Fund For Nature yesterday.

Bombus subterraneus is, or was, one of 21 species of bumble bee in Britain, most of which can only be distinguished by experts. Bombus was one of the long-tongued bumble bees, with a proboscis that could take nectar from the flowers of traditional hay meadows.

The 95 per cent decline of ancient meadows and pastures since 1945 is thought to be the main reason for its decline. Another is the shift from the harvesting of hay once a year to the harvesting of silage several times a year. Silage harvesting chops off the top of the bee's nest, which is above ground, despite the bee's Latin name, either destroying it, or exposing it to disease.

The short-haired bumble bee was exported to New Zealand in 1885 to pollinate crops and is common there, but the last sighting in Britain was around Dungeness, Kent, in the early Eighties. After two years of intensive survey work all over the country, no trace of it has been found, says WWF.

Callum Rankine, WWF habitats and species officer, said: "Officially you need five years continuous survey work to pronounce a species extinct. But leading bee experts have been looking for it since the Eighties. If they say that it is extinct, that's good enough for us. This is a black day for British wildlife."

The bee joins the alpine butterwort (last recorded 1900), the Osprey (last recorded 1916, then reintroduced), the White-tailed eagle (last recorded 1916), Kentish plover (1935), opossom shrimp (1953), burbot (1970s), large tortoiseshell butterfly (1980s), mouse-eared bat (1990) and Essex emerald moth (1991) in dying out in Britain this century.

Conservationists say the extinction rate of three species every two years may rise in the next 20 years due to climate change, development pressures and the Common Agricultural Policy. WWF projections using government figures show that, if no action is taken to tighten the law on species protection, water voles will become extinct in 2003, the high brown fritillary butterfly and the pipistrelle bat in 2007 and the skylark in 2009.

Carol Hatton, WWF planning officer, said: "The dramatic decline and extinction of our native species is a sad reflection of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act and its inability to protect our natural heritage."

The Government has proposed changes to the Act which have been bitterly criticised by landowners. The proposed measures have no legislative timetable. An early day motion supporting a new Wildlife Bill has attracted 289 supporters in the Commons since the Queen's Speech and conservationists are lobbying for the measures to be included in the Queen's Speech next year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1998/09/23/nblum123.html - 23 September 1998: Grey day for survival hopes of red squirrel
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1998/08/26/ntree26.html - 26 August 1998: 1 in 10 tree species in danger of extinction
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1998/08/03/nbee03.html - 3 August 1998: Lethal parasite tightens grip on honey bees
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1998/07/07/wgrib07.html - 7 July 1998: [International] Vanishing frogs and toads set puzzle for task force