Steven Falk is a professional naturalist and conservationist with a particular love for insects. He has worked for the former Nature Conservancy Council, two large museum services, and a wildlife trust. He has been involved with natural history books since his teens, contributing colour artwork to books such as British Hoverflies and the Collins Field Guide to Insects of Britain and Northern Europe. He has also written many scientific papers, popular articles and a county flora for Warwickshire. He currently works for Buglife.

Over almost forty years, Richard Lewington has built up a reputation as one of Europe's finest wildlife illustrators. He first became interested in butterflies as a child when he inherited a cabinet of insects. He studied graphic design at the Berkshire College of Art, and since leaving in 1971 has specialised in natural-history illustration. His meticulous paintings of insects and other wildlife are the mainstay of many of the modern classics of field-guide art.

PREFACE / INTRODUCTION / What is a bee? / Classification of bees / At-a-glance guide to bee genera / Species, races, forms and variations / The life cycle of bees / Enemies and associates of bees / Habitats of bees / Field techniques for finding and recording bees / Conserving bees / Societies and recording groups / Bees beyond Britain and Ireland / FURTHER READING / HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE / Dichotomous keys / Format of the species accounts /
The colour plates / Male or female? / Is it a bee? / Bee anatomy / GLOSSARY / Author's web feature / KEY TO BEE GENERA / FAMILY COLLETIDAE / Colletes - Plasterer bees / Hylaeus - Yellow-face bees / FAMILY ANDRENIDAE /
Andrena - Mining bees / Panurgus - Shaggy bees / FAMILY HALICTIDAE / Halictus - End-banded furrow bees /
Lasioglossum - Base-banded furrow bees / Sphecodes - Blood bees / Rophites - Bristle-headed bees / Dufourea - Short-faced bees / COLOUR PLATES / FAMILY MELITTIDAE / Melitta - Blunthorn bees / Macropis - Oil-collecting bees / Dasypoda - Pantaloon bees / FAMILY MEGACHILIDAE / Anthidium - Wool carders / Stelis - Dark bees /
Heriades - Resin bees / Chelostoma - Scissor bees / Osmia - Mason bees / Hoplitis - Lesser masons / Megachile - Leafcutter and mud bees / Coelioxys - Sharp-tail bees / FAMILY APIDAE / Nomada - Nomad bees / Epeolus - Variegated cuckoo bees / Eucera - Long-horned bees / Anthophora - Flower bees / Melecta - Mourning bees /
Ceratina - Small carpenter bees / Xylocopa - Large carpenter bees / Bombus - Bumblebees / Apis - Honey bees /
CHECKLIST OF THE BEES OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND / INDEX / PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS