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We think of them as thriving in wildflower meadows and rolling fields. But new research suggests Britain's bees are happier near towns and cities.

A study of wildlife sites across four English counties has found that most are home to fewer species of bee today than they were in the past.

It found that the expansion of farmland has actually been more damaging to Britain's bee population than the concreting over of the countryside for housing.

A Reading University researcher has said that bees prefer cities to fields (honey bees in Paris shown). The expansion of farmland has actually been damaging to bee population, according to the researcher. Wildlife sites in four English counties saw bee species decrease

For instance, heaths and meadows near Milton Keynes now boast more species of bee than sites in more rural areas.

Reading University researcher Dr Deepa Senapathi believes intensive agriculture is to blame.

While the gardens, parks and churchyards of towns and cities provide bees with a variety of plants to forage on and an extended flowering season, popular crops such as oilseed rape only bloom for a few weeks.

She said: 'While concreting over the countryside may appear to be bad news for nature, we've found that progressive urbanisation may be much less damaging than intensive agriculture.

'Urban areas may benefit bees more than farmland by providing a wide variety of flowering plants, providing a cosmopolitan menu for insects from spring through to autumn.

'Over the past century rural landscapes in Britain have become increasingly dominated by large expanses of monoculture - the growing of a single type of plant, which has helped boost crop production.

'But without a mixture of habitat and food sources, rural areas can sometimes be little better than green deserts for biodiversity.'

Scientists around the country are trying to work out why populations of bees and other insects are plummeting.

Pesticides, climate change and disease may, like intensive farming, be playing a role.

The latest research is published in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.

Dr Deepa Senapathi believes intensive agriculture is to blame. While the gardens, parks and churchyards of towns and cities provide bees with a variety of plants to forage on and an extended flowering season, popular crops such as oilseed rape only bloom for a few weeks (stock image of honey bee shown)