Bumbles
Who is seeing bumble bees? I saw two in the orchard yesterday, my first for the year. Both were queens of the while-tailed bumble bee, Bombus lucorum.
Bombus%20lucorum%20CRYPTARUM..jpg
The buff-tailed (or earth) bumble bee, Bombus terrestris, is often up and about earlier in the year, but I haven't seen any this year. Queens can be massive and their buff tails and less bright yellow bands make them easily identified.
20080409-Buff-tailed-bumble..gif
Hi G,
Saw 2 yellow tailed yesterday, filmed one/(with mites) whiteish spider looking.
L.
There's a red mite I've seen on them in late summer. The buff-tailed one used to be uncommon in Scotland (when I was a lad, many moons ago ... ) but is one of those bees that has been moving north and is more common here now. Same as the red-tailed bumble bee, some of the mining and mason bees ... which always makes me wonder when people keep claiming that bees are in terminal decline, as I heard at a couple of meetings this week. Butterflies too - we've had a succession move into the area: orange tip, peacock, comma ...
G.
While I'm on this topic, maybe I can put out a plea to look out for the UK's new bumble bee species, Bombus hypnorum. It was discovered in Wiltshire in 2001 and has been consolidating and moving north at quite a rate, with a big jump of a couple of hundred kilometres in 2009 (how did it do that?!).
http://www.bwars.com/bombus_hypnorum.htm
G.
From: http://www.opalwestmidlands.org/bees/bees.html
Project 2: Look for Bombus hypnorum
Keep an eye out for a newcomer to our national bee fauna. Bombus hypnorum is a new bumble bee that was first recorded in the UK in 2001 from a site in Wiltshire. OPAL WM are happy to be helping BWARS record the spread and movement of this species. It is a distinctive species with a unique combination of a ginger thorax and a white tail. No other UK bumble bee has this colour pattern. The species is often found on species of Cotoneaster and Lilac (Ceanothus spp.) [in fact Ceanothus is not lilac but is good for bees] and can be found on many flowery garden shrubs. In late June, males can often be found on bramble flowers. If you spot this species in your garden then please either email us or fill in our on-line recording form by clickinghere. Records should include full details of locality, date, recorder and identifier and, wherever possible, a photograph for verification purposes
BBC Radio Scotland's 'Out of Doors' repeat (first broadcast yesterday) has just said that bumble bees have been spotted in Haymarket and the Asda car park in Gorebridge!
I saw one on the shed door yesterday. I think it was a white tailed but I really can't tell bumbles from either barn doors or banjos.
I dug one up last week when I was scrabbling for the last of the potatoes. I put a flower pot over it and piled a bit of soil around it, but it didn't look to happy about being woken early.
It isn't too hard to get to grips with the 6 common ones (soon to be 7 to confound the bumble bee doom mongers). Does take a wee while and some persistence, but once you know them there are endless possibilities for showing off and impressing people!
G.
Oh look, I've passed 100 posts.
Does that mean a free drink, or do you have to pay a forfeit?Originally Posted by gavin
Seen a few bumbles in the garden over the last week. I think/hope that we might have a nest under one of the decking things in the garden, there's certainly been a lot of interest In one particular gap at the back by one bumble but I've not seen much of her since.
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