Bumblebees
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The TV quiz show Pointless often has rounds with photographs of wildlife to be identified in the earlier rounds but last week there was a wildlife question in the final. The three categories in "British bugs" were to name a British butterfly, bumblebee or ladybird. In case you've not seen it they ask 100 people the same question, and the contestants have to come up with an answer that none of the 100 people picked. Anyway, what I am getting round to is that Bilberry Bumblebee was a pointless answer. Though I think most answers were pointless, with Red Admiral being the highest scoring insect.
Bilberry Bumblebee (Bombus monticola) is a rare Bumblebee, restricted to the uplands of Britain. It does feed on Bilberry flowers (Vaccinium myrtillus) early in the year which grows on moorlands, which is where it is most often seen. Fortunately the Peak District Moors close to my house are a hot spot for this rare Bumblebee so I see them quite frequently. The scientific name monticola also means mountain-dweller. They have trouble finding nectar sources on the moors between the spring-flowering Bilberry, and the autumn-flowering heather and many depend on flower-rich haymeadows on the moorland fringe.
Bilberry Bumblebees can be identified by the combination of a massive orange tail (more than half the abdomen is orange), and a "typical" yellow and black striped thorax. Though the yellow stripes are a very pale, cold yellow unlike the bright, warm yellow of the common garden Bumblebees. Bilberry Bumblebee rather looks a bit like two bits of the wrong Bumblebee have been stuck together. This one was nectaring on a Marsh Thistle on the Peak District Moors near Holmfirth..
Their distribution map is on Bumblebee Conservation's website here: www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bumblebee-species-guide/
The Shrill carder bee, Bombus sylvarum, is probably the UK’s rarest species of bumblebee, more info can be found using link below.
bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/identification/very-...
Please tell me if I am incorrect.
the one species on the planet that will either make or break our food prices.
Bumblebees are great pollinators, and therefore have a key role in producing much of the food that we eat.
Source: bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/why-bees-need-help/
This is the rare Bilberry Bumblebee (Bombus monticola) nectaring on a Ragwort growing by a track high on the Peak District Moors in West Yorkshire. As the name Bilberry Bumblebee suggests, they occur on moorlands where Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) occurs. The scientific name monticola also means mountain-dweller. They have trouble finding nectar sources on the moors between the spring-flowering Bilberry, and the autumn-flowering heather and many depend on flower-rich haymeadows on the moorland fringe.
Bilberry Bumblebees can be identified by the combination of a massive orange tail (more than half the abdomen is orange), and a "typical" yellow and black striped thorax. It looks a bit like two bits of the wrong Bumblebee have been stuck together.
Their distribution map is on Bumblebee Conservation's website here: www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bumblebee-species-guide/
A bumblebee - Bombus sp., but exact species ID welcomed! - with great hair, photographed in action at the Montreal Botanical Garden in Montréal, Québec, Canada. If you look closely, you can see what look like mites near the junction of the abdomen and thorax (see note).
Pentax D-FA 100mm F/2.8 WR Macro with Raynox DCR-250 and off-camera diffused Godox V850ii flash. This was with the lens at or very near infinity (which gives 0.8:1 macro magnification), plus a slight crop.
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Lovely little guys, bumblebees have been absolutely everywhere this week in England! They especially like the rhododendron flowers that are amazingly still out (about a month later than usual because of the very cold spring we've had) but this one was feeding on borrage, which is a blue-purple flowering weed that seems to do very well in the pond section part of the garden that is under my management (rather than my wife, who clears these!).
There's much to be said for letting part of your garden just go a little wild because it brings in all sorts of insects that probably wouldn't otherwise be there. One of the best plants I know of for seeing insects on is actually rough nettle patches, which can be found just about everywhere. Wear some long trousers and take a long bamboo cane along to prod the stalks though if you're going to look through these. It is well known that bumblebees are in decline and need a little boost, and every little helps.
Sadly, I've also seen quite a few of these sitting in flowerheads without moving much. I asked an expert and it turns out that this is due to the colder windy weather that we've had - bumblebees don't react well to the heat loss because of wind so don't always fly on if they're caught out in the cold, and many perish.
Single shot with Raynox 250, 150 & af160fc ringflash.
Currently residing in a bird nesting box on the deck of my mum's art studio along with many many more!!
bumblebeeconservation.org/images/uploads/Tree_bee_article...
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Thank you and I hope you enjoy your day :-)
This is a more cropped shot of the one attached below in the comment section. It flew away after this one shot.
*I just identified it as a Wool Carder Bee! (Anthidium oblongatum). I was able to do so from a photo by Sylvester K in the Group Beautiful Bug Butt Thursday!
www.flickr.com/photos/sylvester_k/52182067558/in/pool-bea...
*I've also attached a few of my own photos below of the species, but they are not angles which show the underside as seen in the "mystery bug butt" photo.
This is not a native species. I normally see them in my garden every year, but they had been absent until a few days ago. I didn't even consider that bee, because I didn't think it could fit inside this tiny flower!
I'm still very much getting used to the zoom lens I bought recently... took it out into the garden last night and realised that we now have an enormous number of bumblebees. They are all over the cotoneaster / whisteria / raspberry canes. I could hear buzzing in a nearby bush and I'm convinced there's a nest. Even with SO many bees around it's still a challenge to capture them in action, they move so fast!
bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/habitats/bumblebee-n...
I took this at my favorite garden in the whole World,
Great Dixter gardens,
Great Dixter Drive,
Rye ,
TN31 6PH,
UK
I love macro photography, I feel like I am exploring an alien planet discovering new life forms when out and about.
On this occasion, it was a familiar insect in the humble bumble bee.
There are currently 25 species of bumblebee resident in Britain. One of which, the Short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus), is currently being reintroduced after going extinct in 1988.
Britain also has two extinct bumblebee species: Cullum’s bumblebee (Bombus cullumanus) last recorded on the Berkshire Downs in 1941, and the Apple bumblebee (Bombus pomorum), a short-lived establishment on the south coast in the mid-1800s.
Seven species of bumblebee (the ‘Big 7’) are widespread across most of Britain. These are:
Red-tailed (Bombus lapidarius)
Early (Bombus pratorum)
Common carder (Bombus pascuorum)
White-tailed (Bombus lucorum)
Buff-tailed (Bombus terrestris)
Garden (Bombus hortorum)
Tree (Bombus hypnorum)
The Heath bumblebee (Bombus jonellus) sometimes joins the group above, to form a ‘Big 8’, although it is absent from much of the English Midlands.
There are 8 bumblebee species listed on at least one of the English, Welsh and Scottish conservation priority species lists. Many of these are endemic species which can be abundant in small areas. Others are more widespread but at a very low population density.
18 species are social species. They make nests, collect pollen and have a worker caste. The remaining six species have a parasitic lifestyle, taking over existing nests established by other species. These species are known as ‘cuckoo’ bumblebees and don’t have workers, just queens and males. They tend to be widespread but only at a comparatively low abundance.
British bumblebees can be divided into three groups based on queen tail colour and their rarity status. Check out our tail-colour category pages under the ‘About Bees’ section! (Some bumblebee species show variation which fit multiple categories: these are flagged up in an ‘also be aware of’ section.)
Usually, it is relatively easy to recognize the mimic species. Bumblebees are bigger, hairier and fly more deliberately with a lower-pitched buzz than most of the similar fly species. However, sometimes the mimics can be very similar to bumblebees, and short of examining a specimen the best way to separate the groups is to examine the heads. Bumblebees have long, multi-section tubular antennae, long tubular mouthparts (though these are often folded up), and relatively small eyes.
Link -
"Bumblebees are beautiful, hard working and incredibly important pollinators. In the last 70 years two species have become nationally extinct, and others are seriously threatened. Join today and help us to conserve bumblebees for future generations to enjoy."
www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/
PLEASE NO GROUP INVITES OR AWARDS WITH FLASHY BADGES
Another new species for me.
This is a new bee for me and I have no idea what it is yet
Hyde Lea Stafford UK 2nd May 2021
SJ91222033
Thank you Louise for the ID
Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
18 April 2018, Cuttle Pool Nature Reserve, Temple Balsall
Cuttle Pool Nature Reserve, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust www.warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/cuttle-pool
Great news for bees!
"European Union countries backed a proposal on Friday to ban all use outdoors of insecticides known as neonicotinoids that studies have shown can harm bees.
The ban, championed by environmental activists, covers the use of three active substances - imidacloprid developed by Bayer CropScience, clothianidin developed by Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer CropScience as well as Syngenta’s thiamethoxam."
(Reuters, Brussels, 27 April 2018)
Help save our bees: Bumblebee Conservation Trust
Bombus terrestris
Our Daily Challenge 21-27 April : Save the..Bees. bumblebeeconservation.org/
also read why here www.foe.co.uk/page/bee-cause
Now when you think of a bumblebee, you probably don't think of one that looks quite like this one :-)
With its bright yellow head (and midriff) and bright dayglo orange bum!
But that's what he is!
The reason you don't think he looks like this, is because this little fella is a "True" Bumblebee > Blaeberry bumblebee Bombus monticola and he is a scarce creature indeed.
bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/identification/scarce/
Blaeberry bumblebee Bombus monticola
Not the sharpest of images – it’s at the limit of my camera’s macro - but this is an event not often captured.
The odd-looking insect attached to the abdomen of the bee is a Stylops, a flying insect of the order Strepsiptera. Stylops parasitize various species of Andrena (mining bees), with pupae developing in the body of the bee. It gets stranger. The females remain in the host as pupae; the males mature, develop large, flowing hindwings, and fly off to find other stylopised bees in order to mate with a female. The image captures this event.
Steven Falk suggests that very few entomologists have seen male stylopids (Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland, 2016). The NBN Atlas has only 44 records of the genus Stylops in the UK, iRecord has only eight.
Find out more at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylops_melittae
I originally identified this species as Stylops melittae. I have since learned from Steven Falk via my county biological records centre that there is considerable disagreement about Stylops taxonomy so this one can only safely be recorded as a Stylops species. Still, it is the first record of this genus on the Warwickshire county database.
My thanks to Richard Comont, Science Manager, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, for helping to identify the host bee. A tentative identification is Andrena scotica, but the pollen brush is not distinct enough for 100% certainty.
24 March 2019
Cuttle Pool Nature Reserve, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, Temple Balsall
2015_04_21_tues_224b - Buff Tailed BB and Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis.
I contacted Daryl at Bumblebee Conservation Trust on www.bumblebeeconservation.org and he informs me as follows: -
"It seems to be a rather confused male Red Mason bee (Osmia bicornis), which is a solitary bee species, trying to mate with a queen Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). I’ve seen this happen with different species of bumblebee before but never with a solitary bee and a bumblebee, which is quite remarkable."
My original message: -
I had just lifted this Bumblebee up from where it was wobbling about and heading towards my pond. I placed it on this plant and suddenly a "Bee" shot in very quickly and appears to be stinging him. All this happened in seconds and the Bumblebee fell off this plant. I picked it up again and placed in on some Pear Blossom. After a few sips from the flowers, he took off.
Does anybody have any idea of what is going on please?
Bumblebees are mainly under threat because of changes to the countryside in the UK. Changes in agricultural techniques have meant that there are far fewer wildflowers in the landscape than there used to be, meaning that many of our bumblebee species are struggling to survive.
The dramatic decline in populations of most species, and the extinction of two species in the UK, show that something needs to be done.
see
bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/why-bees-need-help/
Don't let them die out !
(Andrena cineraria) One of the most distinctive solitary bees with striking black and grey/white markings. Female Ashy-mining bees excavate small tunnels in the earth to make their nests.
I like its white beard! I have never seen one of these before, this one was in the garden.
More info can be found at: www.bumblebeeconservation.org/ashy-mining-bee/
© Mike Broome 2021
Thought this looked nice with the Bee on a Dandelion with the Dandelion clock spilling over onto the flower.
R839.145.A4.
British Bumblebee
Common carder worker bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum) on Rosa rugosa (Japanese Rose)
Lancashire, Aug 2018
Identified:
www.bumblebeeconservation.org/ginger-yellow-bumblebees/co...
"Bumblebees are beautiful, hard working and incredibly important pollinators. In the last 70 years two species have become nationally extinct, and others are seriously threatened. Join today and help us to conserve bumblebees for future generations to enjoy."
www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/
PLEASE NO GROUP INVITES OR AWARDS WITH FLASHY BADGES
(Andrena cineraria) One of the most distinctive solitary bees with striking black and grey/white markings. Female Ashy-mining bees excavate small tunnels in the earth to make their nests.
I have never seen one of these before, this one was in the garden.
More info can be found at: www.bumblebeeconservation.org/ashy-mining-bee/
© Mike Broome 2021
Apparently mites are, for the most part, quite harmless. www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bee-faqs/bumblebee-mites/
Sunshine + Gorse + Bumblebee = Happiness :-)
Bumblebee species are declining in Europe, North America, and Asia due to a number of factors, including land-use change that reduces bumblebee food plants. Bumblebees are in danger in many developed countries due to habitat destruction and collateral pesticide damage. In a report published in January 2013, the European Food Safety Authority announced their research findings that three pesticides (clothianidine, imidaclopride & thiaméthoxame), presented a high risk for bees.
In Britain, until relatively recently, 19 species of native true bumblebee were recognised along with 6 species of cuckoo bumblebees. Of these, 3 have been extirpated, 8 are in serious decline, and only 6 remain widespread. Similar declines in bumblebees have been reported in Ireland, with 4 species being designated endangered, and another two species considered vulnerable to extinction. A decline in bumblebee numbers could cause large-scale changes to the countryside, resulting from inadequate pollination of certain plants. The world's first bumblebee sanctuary was established at Vane Farm in the Loch Leven National Nature Reserve in Scotland in 2008.
In 2011 London's Natural History Museum led the setting up of an International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Bumblebee Specialist Group to assess the threat status of bumblebee species worldwide using Red List criteria.
HELP SAVE BEES www.helpsavebees.co.uk/to_do_list.html and bumblebeeconservation.org/
I always find it interesting to watch bumblebees in the fall. They move slowly & are easy to observe. After doing some research, I understand why; they are nearing the end of their lives. Click below for further information.
bumblebeeconservation.org/news/anthonys-blog/what-happens...
This is one of two images taken in North Falmouth (Cape Cod), Massachusetts, USA on October 18, 2013.
Not much chance to go out at the moment, but saw dozens of these black and white bees in the garden, and even got some shots.
Ashy mining bee (Andrena cineraria)
-------------------------------------------
This is one of our most distinctive spring-flying solitary bees with striking black and grey/white markings. Belonging to the Andrena family of mining bees, female Ashy-mining bees excavate small tunnels in the earth to make their nests. They can occasionally be found nesting in large groups, but are also found in small groups or as single females.
Males
Males have similar markings to females, although they are smaller and not quite as noticeable. They have more obvious light hairs along the side of the thorax and also at the top of the abdomen.
Females
Females are very distinctive honeybee sized bees with a glossy black abdomen that can look blueish in the light. They have two distinct bands of light grey hair across the top and bottom of the thorax, and white hair on the face.
Habitat, nesting and flower preferences
Frequently found in various open sunny places, particularly on sites with sandy soil, including coastal areas, moorlands, river banks, open woodlands, as well as gardens and urban areas. Females create nests underground by excavating burrows in bare/sparsely vegetated earth. They feed from a wide variety of spring flowers and shrubs, including buttercups, hawthorn, blackthorn, gorse and fruit trees.
Flight season & Distribution
Seen from March to June. Commonly found throughout most of England and Wales with records in the South West and West of Scotland.
Interesting fact
We receive lots of enquiries about this bee and other mining bees from people who have spotted lots of what look like tiny volcanoes made of earth in their gardens. This is the entrance to a female’s nest cavity. Ashy mining bees are known to close this entrance over when they’ve finished foraging for the day, and also when it rains, or if they are disturbed.
Some more pics of our bees, growing in number daily in the old tit box. I've looked at www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk from which I gather these are bumble bees, and I suspect Buff-tailed bumble bees, though they could be White-tailed or even Early bumble bees which, they say, often nest in old tit boxes, though the colouring seems wrong for these. So I've plumped for the Buff-tailed Bombus Terrestris - let me know if I'm wrong. Lots of pollen going in, so must be good. I've found it quite difficult to get these shots, none of which are stunning, though using the 400mm from 2m away wasn't, perhaps, ideal. At one point I brought my wife's makeup mirror into play, reflecting some light up under the overhanging box lid to get a bit faster shutter speed. Marvellous. Perhaps I'll try to get closer in next time with the 24-70.
"I eat my peas with honey;
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on the knife."
"Bumblebees are beautiful, hard working and incredibly important pollinators. In the last 70 years two species have become nationally extinct, and others are seriously threatened. Join today and help us to conserve bumblebees for future generations to enjoy."
www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/
PLEASE NO GROUP INVITES OR AWARDS WITH FLASHY BADGES
Some more pics of our bees, growing in number daily in the old tit box. I've looked at www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk from which I gather these are bumble bees, and I suspect Buff-tailed bumble bees, though they could be White-tailed or even Early bumble bees which, they say, often nest in old tit boxes, though the colouring seems wrong for these. So I've plumped for the Buff-tailed Bombus Terrestris - let me know if I'm wrong. Lots of pollen going in, so must be good. I've found it quite difficult to get these shots, none of which are stunning, though using the 400mm from 2m away wasn't, perhaps, ideal. At one point I brought my wife's makeup mirror into play, reflecting some light up under the overhanging box lid to get a bit faster shutter speed. Marvellous. Perhaps I'll try to get closer in next time with the 24-70.
Some more pics of our bees, growing in number daily in the old tit box. I've looked at www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk from which I gather these are bumble bees, and I suspect Buff-tailed bumble bees, though they could be White-tailed or even Early bumble bees which, they say, often nest in old tit boxes, though the colouring seems wrong for these. So I've plumped for the Buff-tailed Bombus Terrestris - let me know if I'm wrong. Lots of pollen going in, so must be good. I've found it quite difficult to get these shots, none of which are stunning, though using the 400mm from 2m away wasn't, perhaps, ideal. At one point I brought my wife's makeup mirror into play, reflecting some light up under the overhanging box lid to get a bit faster shutter speed. Marvellous. Perhaps I'll try to get closer in next time with the 24-70.
The fine spring weather has brought bumblebees out of hibernation. This is the tree bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum, which was first found in the UK in 2001. Just 14 years later it has spread throughout most of England and Wales and is included as a "common bumblebee" here bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/identification/commo.... So technically it's an invasive species, but it's not aggressive and we want to encourage bumblebees so it doesn't seem to get any bad press.
Some more pics of our bees, growing in number daily in the old tit box. I've looked at www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk from which I gather these are bumble bees, and I suspect Buff-tailed bumble bees, though they could be White-tailed or even Early bumble bees which, they say, often nest in old tit boxes, though the colouring seems wrong for these. So I've plumped for the Buff-tailed Bombus Terrestris - let me know if I'm wrong. Lots of pollen going in, so must be good. I've found it quite difficult to get these shots, none of which are stunning, though using the 400mm from 2m away wasn't, perhaps, ideal. At one point I brought my wife's makeup mirror into play, reflecting some light up under the overhanging box lid to get a bit faster shutter speed. Marvellous. Perhaps I'll try to get closer in next time with the 24-70.
Some more pics of our bees, growing in number daily in the old tit box. I've looked at www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk from which I gather these are bumble bees, and I suspect Buff-tailed bumble bees, though they could be White-tailed or even Early bumble bees which, they say, often nest in old tit boxes, though the colouring seems wrong for these. So I've plumped for the Buff-tailed Bombus Terrestris - let me know if I'm wrong. Lots of pollen going in, so must be good. I've found it quite difficult to get these shots, none of which are stunning, though using the 400mm from 2m away wasn't, perhaps, ideal. At one point I brought my wife's makeup mirror into play, reflecting some light up under the overhanging box lid to get a bit faster shutter speed. Marvellous. Perhaps I'll try to get closer in next time with the 24-70.
Some more pics of our bees, growing in number daily in the old tit box. I've looked at www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk from which I gather these are bumble bees, and I suspect Buff-tailed bumble bees, though they could be White-tailed or even Early bumble bees which, they say, often nest in old tit boxes, though the colouring seems wrong for these. So I've plumped for the Buff-tailed Bombus Terrestris - let me know if I'm wrong. Lots of pollen going in, so must be good. I've found it quite difficult to get these shots, none of which are stunning, though using the 400mm from 2m away wasn't, perhaps, ideal. At one point I brought my wife's makeup mirror into play, reflecting some light up under the overhanging box lid to get a bit faster shutter speed. Marvellous. Perhaps I'll try to get closer in next time with the 24-70.
Join the BBCT Bumblebee Conservation Trust www.bumblebeeconservation.org/ and save our Bumblebees :-)
The Bubble Bee... Early Bumblebee Male or it might be a Buff-Tailed Bubblebee ?
Early Bumblebee ~ Bombus Pratorum
A small bee often nesting in tit boxes. The yellow band on the abdomen is sometimes missing in females. Colonies are very short lived, prducing mallesas early as April ~ Rarely seen from July onwards... This was taken in May !
Buff-tailed Bumblebee
Mostly large, robust, hairy bees, usually black with yellow, sometimes red markings. Pollen collected in "basket" on broad hind legs to take back to the hive. They have long tongues which can reach into long-tubed flowers. Will sting if provoked.
Join us @ our *Photo* group Birds and Wildlife UK
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Simon :-)
Some more pics of our bees, growing in number daily in the old tit box. I've looked at www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk from which I gather these are bumble bees, and I suspect Buff-tailed bumble bees, though they could be White-tailed or even Early bumble bees which, they say, often nest in old tit boxes, though the colouring seems wrong for these. So I've plumped for the Buff-tailed Bombus Terrestris - let me know if I'm wrong. Lots of pollen going in, so must be good. I've found it quite difficult to get these shots, none of which are stunning, though using the 400mm from 2m away wasn't, perhaps, ideal. At one point I brought my wife's makeup mirror into play, reflecting some light up under the overhanging box lid to get a bit faster shutter speed. Marvellous. Perhaps I'll try to get closer in next time with the 24-70.
Social Bombus Lapidarius, Solitary Vanessa Atalanta, and Precious Cetonia-aurata on the Mountain Ash Flowerheads in the Orchid/Kukulka Forestry, Notecka Forest (the underground remnants in the abandoned place near woods and springs). Common insects pollinate flowers and dispose of waste. Color pattern: the presence of obvious yellow facial hair separates the red-tailed bumblebee (B. lapidarius in the family Apidae - drone) from the red-tailed cuckoos. The social bee is black and has a yellow band at the collar and a red tail unseen in the picture.
www.bumblebeeconservation.org/red-tailed-bumblebees/red-t...
this is one of the fairburn cows that roam, free and manage the land
they are stunning animals, and they often come up to the fences like this and stick their heads through to eat the bushes
also just wanted to share the below (if you follow me on twitter you may have seen this)
– some of you may remember the blue tits i photographed last year in my birdbox? – i had been wondering why they hadn’t come back this year – and then i found out why . . .
. . . iv got a colony of bees living in it! - and not just any bees!
i managed to get a fuzzy photo (through glass and a long way away) and tried to ID them but couldn’t – so i posted on twitter and got the answer there
they are ‘tree bees’ and they were only discovered in 2001!
more info on tree bees - the bumblebee conservation trust
(PLEASE NO AWARDS OR PICTURES OR FLASHY BADGES)
The estate is made up of open moorland, woodland and farms.
It is excellent walking country, with dramatic views over the Derwent Valley.
The estate is owned and managed by the National Trust.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longshaw_Estate
Bilberry Bumblebee
by Emma Reynard
2021
Painted to celebrate the Pollinating The Peak project.
My garden by Wilden Marsh ~ Wyre Forest ~ Worcestershire
Join the Bumblebee Convervation Trust and save our Bumblebees :-)
www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/
Simon :-)
The bumblebee tongue (the proboscis) is composed of many different mouthparts acting as a unit, specialised to suck up nectar via capillary action...
Early Bumblebee ~ Bombus pratorum
A small often nesting in tit boxes. The yellowband on the abdomen is sometimes missing in females. Colonies are very short lived, producing as early as April. Rarely seen from July onwards... this makes sense as I took the photo in May !
Bumblebees
Join us at Flickr * Bumblebees * and share your BB photos :-)
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Simon :-)
Queen Red-tailed Bumblebee enjoying an unusual October heatwave in England on Campanula Monique. The bee appears to have mites clinging to it's body but according to information on Bumblebee Conservation Trust they are most likely harmless and using the bee as transport.
Bombus lapidarius
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Unlike flies, which only have one pair of wings, bees and wasps have two pairs. The hindwing is small, and usually attached to the forewing by hooks called hamuli, so it often looks as though there is only one pair.
These are the hamuli on the hindwing of a Bombus hypnorum or tree bee, Britain's newest species of bumblebee.