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Neonicotinoid insecticides used to treat the seeds of bee-attractive crops occur in trace amounts in nectar and pollen. Possible harm to bees has resulted in the European Commission imposing a precautionary two-year moratorium on the use of neonicotinoids on bee-attractive crops from 2013. Recent laboratory and semi-field studies on colony-level effects of neonicotinoids assumed exclusive or near-exclusive levels of colony foraging on a treated crop. But is this a realistic assumption? Six honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies were monitored over two springs (April–May 2011/12) in two neighbouring locations (urban and rural) in and near Brighton, UK, to quantify foraging on oilseed rape, the most widespread bee-attractive crop in the UK, by decoding waggle dances and trapping pollen. The study area was representative of the UK agricultural landscape in that the percentage area cover of the blooming oilseed …