Bumbles

[Lindsay]

Hi Gavin,
Saw 1 bumble bee yesterday but 7 or eight today. All whited tailed - I think! A good sign - it is getting warmer.

Lindsay

[kirk boy]

I have seen several very large ones in my garden which is in the central belt i take it they were Queens i was so cheered up by their humming.

[GRIZZLY]

Gave a Q white tail a sip of honey 2 weeks ago.She was visiting our crocuses but had got a little chilled by the cold wind.After being held in my hand,she warmed up and took aforementioned honey after which she flew away quite strongly.We have got a white variety of Eschallonia in the garden and when this is in flower it literally hums with mostly bumbles.It also attracts clouds of Red Admiral and Peacock butterflies.The honeybees don't find it too attractive tho' - perhaps they're bullied off it by the bumbles.

[EmsE]

I'm not sure if this is a bumble bee or not, does anyone recognise it? It was flying around our garden last summer.

Attachment 162

[gavin]

The eyes, look at the eyes!

It is a bumble bee mimic, a kind of hoverfly that gains protection by looking like an insect with a sting in its tail. They even buzz when they fly. I'm fairly sure that it is this one:

http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org...er_barber.html

G.

[EmsE]

... that will really confuse the kids when I tell them it's a hoverfly. Wish me luck with that one.

[gavin]

You can pick it up in your hands next time - that should impress them.

[Trog]

When we had spring (remember that - the day before yesterday?), I looked up at the willow in full flower a couple of yards from the beehives. The girls were ignoring it, prefering the gorse a little further away (gourmet bees?) but there were two lovely dark bumble bees enjoying the pollen. Such a lovely hum!

For years I've been happily picking up bumblebees, especially the ones that like to go for a swim in the horse's water bucket, believing they didn't sting. Last summer I found out I was wrong in this assumption when one ungrateful bumble inflicted a little pain - and was promptly dropped. Since then I've been more cautious and fish them out with a twig!

[POPZ]

I always thought that bumbles 'nipped' as opposed to stinging with venom. What they nip with, I have no idea, but actually I have to admit that I have not been nipped, stung or in any way molested by one. Despite rescuing hundreds from death by spider web.

[Trog]

Well I got away with it for years until that ungrateful so-and-so!