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Bee or Wasp in UK garden (1 Viewer)

glennmanc

Well-known member
Can anyone ID this bee (possibly wasp?) which is colonizing a bird nesting box in my garden in North Wales? I've had "Paper Wasps" do this before, but these look more like bees. The wings look bluish - perhaps just an effect of the light?
 

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Hi Glennmanc, sticking my head above the parapet here (as I'm no expert), but I think I know this one - Tree Bumblebee. It's spread across Britain remarkably quickly and is a recent colonists. We had them nesting in our house a few years ago but they left soon enough without causing any known damage. Regards, Phil
 
Thanks, that seems to fit with my little Insect Book. Do they often take over nestboxes? I'm glad they are not rare, because we'd rather have birds using the box!
 
Hi Glennmanc, sticking my head above the parapet here (as I'm no expert), but I think I know this one - Tree Bumblebee. It's spread across Britain remarkably quickly and is a recent colonists. We had them nesting in our house a few years ago but they left soon enough without causing any known damage. Regards, Phil

It's not Tree Bee but yes, they are known to regularly take over nest boxes.

They're not Bombus Bumble Bees I don't think but can't find anything that fits exactly.


A
 
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Sit back and enjoy their comings and goings. I have them nesting in the ridge above my garage and they are doing no harm to anyone.
 
I can't see what they can be but a Bombus species, but stumped as to which?

agree with this, don't think there are any other british bee genera with white tails like that, and can't see anything wrong otherwise. I reckon they are faded tree bumblebee, the only thing that doesn't really fit is that the thorax is mostly black, but you can see gingery colouration on the shoulders of the right hand individual

James
 
agree with this, don't think there are any other british bee genera with white tails like that, and can't see anything wrong otherwise. I reckon they are faded tree bumblebee, the only thing that doesn't really fit is that the thorax is mostly black, but you can see gingery colouration on the shoulders of the right hand individual

James

Tree Bumblebees do develop bald patches with age, though these do seem particularly "moth-eaten". Have you tried sending images to the i-spot website?

www.ispotnature.org or

the Natural History Museum bug forum

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/identification/bug-forum?fromGateway=true

There will be plenty of specialists on there that may be able to give a more definitive answer.

Cheers
 
Sit back and enjoy their comings and goings. I have them nesting in the ridge above my garage and they are doing no harm to anyone.

That's exactly the information I overheard my husband telling a caller on the phone yesterday. Bob is a beekeeper and the caller had got his number from the 'swarm collection' page on the internet. He had bees in his garage roof and Bob knew he wouldn't be able to get them out so he said to "just enjoy them for the time they're there".

:t:
 
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