What's a bee doing when... (1 Viewer)

[Woody]

...it flies in circles and settles on a patch of recently disturbed earth, then buries itself, re-emerges, flies off, returns and repeats the process six or seven times?

A friend has asked and I'm not sure of the answer. The bee in question was a 'bumble bee' type with a red rear end. My friend was going to plant a bush where the bee was digging but doesn't want to disturb anything. I suspect that the bee was prospecting for hibernation sites but any advice would be welcome.

Mike

 

[Cudyll Bach]

Bumble Bees nest underground, so I would imagine that the bee in question is just visiting its nest but then again I could be way off the mark.

 

[Woody]

Thanks for the reply Cudyll.

Would the presence of a nest not mean that there would be a lot more activity than a single individual? My friend tells me that she moved a small bush from the site and replanted it elsewhere. I would have expected there to have been a few bees that would have been a bit cheesed off when she did that had there been a nest among the roots? If there is a nest there, what should my friend look for? I'm sure that if there is something there she will not want to disturb anything-She has trouble removing spider webs in case it upsets the little guys!

Mike

 

[Imaginos]

If the ground has been recently disturbed then a solitary bee could have lost it's nest entrance in the process, I would expect rather more activity if there were social bees involved. I think it may be too early for looking for hibernation sites.

This being said I've observed quite a lot of 'odd' bee behaviour this year, from solitaries contorting themselves into strange postures to bumblebees determinedly crawling into small spaces, coming out then returning again & again. I wonder whether increased parasite activity could be the cause?