‘Busy busy bumble bee, what do you have in your hive for me?’
This is a bit of a misnomer as bumble bees don’t build hives, that is the job of the honey bee.
Most bumble bees are brightly coloured with various yellow and black stripes and often some orange and white. It can be difficult to identify different species without an id chart as the pattern of stripes varies greatly. But out of the 16 species found in the UK, (to makes things easier for you) there are only 6 species which are widespread throughout Britain.
Bumble bees are bigger and fluffier than honey bees. Their hairiness means they can survive in cooler climates, so can be found higher up in the hills and further north.
Male bumbles are smaller than the females.
Overview
Bumble bees usually nest in the ground or in rotten wood or old walls with crumbly cement.
Only the females survive the winter and start a new colony in the spring. Their colonies are much smaller than the honey bee with between 20-200 individuals. Some bumble bees are solitary, laying only a few eggs in nest that are simply fed and then left to their own devices. Bumble bee nests only survive one season which means they have to start from scratch each year.
The first eggs to be laid are the females who do all the work. The males are created later in the year when they are needed to mate with the flying queens. Males leave the nest when they become adults and live on their own.
Bumble bees always need to keep busy as the nectar from one flower will only keep them going for a short period of time. When the weather is wet or cold, bees find it more difficult to find flowers to feed from and they become weak very quickly. Often you will see bees staggering around after the rain, if you can find a flower to place them on or provide a shallow dish of sugary water they will very quickly recover and fly away unharmed.
In the Garden
Bumble bees are a common sight in many gardens but there are less of them than there used to be. They are threatened due to the loss of pretty gardens in favour of maintenance free paving, increased use of pesticides and the intensive mowing of grass verges.
Bees need plants that produce lots of nectar throughout the season. If you can plant a wide variety of plants in your garden that flower between March and September this will keep the bees happy.
Providing some areas of bare ground below trees and shrubs is important, as well as some open low vegetation to allow access for burrowing.
Dead wood or rotting fence posts in sunny positions can be really good for solitary bees to nest in. If you don’t have any of these you can simulate the conditions by drilling holes into planks of wood or providing bee hotels!
Did you know?
- Bumblebees can sting more than once but they will only sting if they feel threatened.
- Only the females can sting because the sting is a modified part of the tube that females use for laying eggs.
- A male bumble bee cannot sting you!