[cjay]

Hi folks any Bumble bee enthusiasts on here?

Two Bombus sp at Wheatfen today described as 1. Yellow head collar cream
abdomen stripe & an orange tail, rest all black.

2. Ginger head collar, yellow abdomen stripe, white tail.Rest all black

I have the Richmond guide & the article by David Richmond but still find
them difficult to id.

[alcedo.atthis]

Hi folks any Bumble bee enthusiasts on here?

Two Bombus sp at Wheatfen today described as 1. Yellow head collar cream
abdomen stripe & an orange tail, rest all black.

2. Ginger head collar, yellow abdomen stripe, white tail.Rest all black

I have the Richmond guide & the article by David Richmond but still find
them difficult to id.

Colin, if you have an incling on the species, then the following site may help.


http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/bombus/alphabet.html

Regards

Malky @ Westhill

[harry eales]

The identification of Bombus species is difficult especially on a slight description, photographs would have possibly helped. At this time of year they would be Queens out of hibernation. All Bumblebees have a black head although some have a small tuft of hairs between the eyes. There are no readily available textbooks which show GOOD clear pictures of all the British species. If you can get a hold of the reprint of The Humblebee by Sladen reprinted by IBRA in 1989 this would help but the nomenclature has changed a lot since the book was first written so some further work in getting the current names would be required. Tentative suggestions on your description would be:-
B.lucorum.
B terrestris or B.pratorum.
All three species are common throughout most of the British Isles.
Harry Eales.

[paulinemiller10]

hi there,
just joined, interested in wildlife, i had quite a few bumble bees visiting last year, and i think i have one nesting in a robins nest, quite exiting as i live in the centre of a small town, and hav nt seen many bumbles untill last year when they came to visit my fuschia, so may have new queens looking for nesting places?. Pauline