We present wide area UBRI photometry for globular clusters around the Leo group galaxy NGC 3379 .
Globular cluster candidates are selected from their B-band magnitudes and their ( U–B ) _ { o } vs ( B–I ) _ { o } 
colours .
A colour-colour selection region was defined from photometry of the Milky Way and M31 globular cluster systems .
We detect 133 globular cluster candidates which , supports previous claims of a low specific frequency for NGC 3379 .

The Milky Way and M31 reveal blue and red subpopulations , with ( U–B ) _ { o } and ( B–I ) _ { o } colours indicating mean metallicities similar to those expected based on previous spectroscopic work .
The stellar population models of Maraston ( 2003 ) and Brocato et al . ( 2000 ) are consistent with both subpopulations being old , and with metallicities of [ Fe/H ] \sim –1.5 and –0.6 for the blue and red subpopulations respectively .
The models of Worthey ( 1994 ) do not reproduce the ( U–B ) _ { o } colours of the red ( metal-rich ) subpopulation for any modelled age .

For NGC 3379 we detect a blue subpopulation with similar colours and presumably age/metallicity , to that of the Milky Way and M31 globular cluster systems .
The red subpopulation is less well defined , perhaps due to increased photometric errors , but indicates a mean metallicity of [ Fe/H ] \sim –0.6 .