We have 24 species of bumble bee in this country and five of the commonest may already be around. We also have more than 200 other bee species - mostly solitary.
You may have noticed some rather large bumblers in your garden visiting flowers.
This one was buzzing round our kitchen so I captured it with a glass and a piece of card.
not the clearest photo, I'm afraid
Before releasing it outside I tried to identify it. At this time of year it is almost certain to be a queen. The workers all die off in the winter but the queen hibernates. In spring she must build herself up with nectar and pollen before building the first foundations of a nest. The first eggs she lays will be the pioneer workers, who are much smaller, and will take over the foraging and nest building duties. The queen then settles down to a life of egg laying
I'm pretty sure that this one was a buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) queen.
Another one to look out for at this time of year, especially if you have lungwort (Pulmonaria) flowers in your garden, is the hairy footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes). This species is a solitary bee, not a bumble bee.
Photo: BWARS
The males are ginger but the females are black except for their hind legs. This species likes to feed on the flowers of lungwort (Pulmonaria), comfrey, ground ivy, dead nettles and primroses.
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