BEES are at risk from climate change because more frequent droughts could cause plants to produce fewer flowers, a study in Wiltshire has found.

The University of Exeter examined the impact of droughts, which are expected to become more common in many parts of the world, on flowering plants.

Drought roughly halved the overall number of flowers, meaning less food for bees and other pollinators, it found.

The research, carried out in collaboration with the University of Manchester and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, is published in the journal Global Change Biology.

Study author Ben Phillips, said: “The plants we examined responded to drought in various ways, from producing fewer flowers to producing flowers that contained no nectar.

“But overall there was a very clear reduction in the number of flowers that were available and obviously this means less food for flower-visiting insects such as bees.”

The study took place in Wiltshire on chalk grassland, an important habitat for UK pollinator species.