Our wonderful Bumble bees

As the first warming rays of early sun caress the undergrowth in late February ,early March the first of our Bumble Bees start to emerge from their winter sleep, these are all Queen Bees their large size and slow flight giving them away,some times you will see them crawling slowly on the floor and you might think they are dying but they need some sunshine to gain energy,most of the early flowers they feed on are yellow but exceptions like willow are commonly used as soon as the Queen feds herself she gathers a small amount of nectar and goes looking for a nest site,commonly this will be a old mouse or vole hole, holes in walls and banking's anywhere were she feels safe and warm.
The Queen then lays a few eggs and gathers more nectar to feed herself , she keeps the eggs warm by vibrating her muscles making warmth,these first eggs when they hatch are all female bees or workers,much smaller than the Queen and as soon as they can fly they start to gather nectar,clean the nest and guard the Queen who now her first job done will not leave the nest again .

Queen Buff Tail Bumble Bee in the sunshine recharging her body.

Queen Carder Bee on Daffodils.

Queen Red Tail Bumble Bee on Willow.
As soon as the first brood of Bees has taken too the wing the Queen then goes in to major egg production she is a amazing insect,she can make either male,female or Queen bees at will,as she feels what the nest needs,the male bees she uses for mating and these bees have a short but fruitful life,they carry no sting and when they leave the nest can be distinguished by having no nectar baskets on their legs as they do not collect for the nest just themselves.The best time to see these males is late summer when all the new Queens fly the nest and need to breed before they hibernate, many times 6 or 7 males will try to attend the same Queen.
Bumble Bees are crucial to the pollination of our flowers and trees so the decline in their numbers due to habitat loss and pesticides is a real concern many farmers are now leaving a small area on the edges of fields free growing so to try and help the Bees.Another bone of contention is the spread of Himalayan Mountain Balsam this fast growing alien invader has sprung up everywhere and to some nature lovers is a plant that needs eradicating but to bee lovers it could be the plant that helps save our Bees.
In 1993 a new species of Bee was spotted in the UK and has spread like wildfire it is the Tree Bumble Bee and had a brown head and a white bum this Bee likes to nest in bird boxes and holes in trees and seems to be doing no harm to our native bees.

Tree Bumble Bee.
One of our less common Bees is the Tawny Mining Bee,this beautiful small bee lives a solitary life making a small hole in lawns and parks and then laying a single egg with some nectar in the hole as well,it flies between April and July and once seen is never forgotten with its bright yellow and red body.

Tawny Mining Bee.
We have six common species of Bumble bee,the Buff tailed Bumble Bee, White Tail Bumble Bee, Common Garden Bumble  Bee, Tree Bumble Bee, Carder Bee, and Early Bumble Bee.
At the end of the year all the new Queens fly the nest looking to mate with the male Bees and the rest of the old nest Bees and old Queens slowly die out they are wonderful creatures and without them our flora would be decimated ,at the moment the Clover is out everywhere and is alive with bees try seeing how many types you can recognise.
Another type of Bumble Bee is the Cuckoo bee this is a bee that will infiltrate a nest and sting the resident Queen to death then take over her duties using the old Queens workers and drones to bring up her own brood ,this bee like the male bees has no baskets for pollen,but does have a sting.

Honey bees.
The Honey bee is a altogether different insect it can grow in huge colonies with just one Queen serving the whole hive ,if that Queen dies then a worker bee is fed a special food called Royal Jelly by the other worker bees and she then becomes a queen herself ,the honey bees do not all die out in the winter like most Bumble bees but huddle together keeping warm by vibrating their wings more about these amazing bees another time.Keep your eyes peeled for all these and more and if you take some pictures please look them up on the Internet and see what species you have seen .
Nature man Andy.