ONE of the UK’s rarest bumblebees is in danger of extinction – and holidaymakers and locals in the north-west of Scotland are being urged to help save the species.

The great yellow bumblebee (bombus distinguendus) could be found across the UK until the 1960s, but is now only found in a few places in Scotland’s remote north west, in machair grasslands and other flower-rich areas on the north coast and some of the islands.

Now the Bumblebee Conservation Trust is asking people to hunt for the Great Yellow to create a picture of where it can still be found. People are being asked to look in 28 grid references – each measuring 10x10km (6.2x6.2 miles) – between now and September at sites in Tiree, the Uists, Harris and Lewis, Sutherland and Caithness on the mainland and Orkney and Shetland.

Katy Malone, the trust’s Scotland conservation officer, said: “We need to know more about where the great yellow bumblebee is holding on, so we can take action to protect it before it’s too late.

“Anyone can get involved with this citizen science initiative to save a species.

“Because this iconic insect’s last havens are in some of the country’s most far-flung corners, we don’t have enough volunteers to find and record its whereabouts. So we’re asking people holidaying in the north-west Highlands and islands this year – as well as those living in these beautiful places – to help.”

The trust’s Great Big Great Yellow Bumblebee Hunt, which begins on Saturday, features 28 grid squares where the great yellow used to live, but which have not been checked in recent years. Anyone able to visit these sites is asked to record all the bumblebees they find, whether great yellows or not.

if they think they have found a great yellow, they are asked to take pictures to help experts confirm identification. the great yellow is a large bumblebee entirely covered with golden-yellow hairs – apart from a black band across the thorax between the wing bases.