Red Tailed bumblebee
6 comments
Two blogs and a question in one day! I just finished my other blog about the garden and went out to the shed to get the spade to carry on with replacing the sandstone edging when a couple of bees flew past me. Having seen these in the shed previously I watched to see where they went.
They are nesting under the cracked floor of the shed. The shed is another of the future projects as it has shifted and cracked due to ground movement here on the clay, so has lots of cracks in the walls and floors!
I think this is Bombus lapidarius, the red tailed bumblebee who has previously nested under brick piles in the garden, a common bee and not agressive. Good site for identification of bees: http://www.bumblebee.org/lap.htm
Tried to get a photo of the bees, but too quick for my camera!
11 Jun, 2013
4 likes
Previous post: Work in progress on the front gardens
Next post: Still some countryside left!
Comments
I didn't know they are ground nesters. We've had a couple in the conservatory - took some catching too!
I keep a little plastic pot and a card in there for rescue purposes.
11 Jun, 2013
Thanks to Louisa, we love the different bees and catch them and put them out when they venture indoors. They nested the year before last under a heap of rubbish which we were clearing so the sheet of tin had to be put back until they had finished. Sadly the workers all die in the winter, but Momma bee does it all again the next year! They didn't seem to mind me working in the shed, just veered round me, intent on their purpose, just another obstacle in their path!
To Steragram there are lots of different sorts of bees, some the communal sort, which these are and some the solitary type which also nest in holes in the ground. When weeding you often see a confused bee going round in circles as you have removed the weed he has used as a marker for his hole, they work it out in the end and soon turf out any grains of dirt that have fallen in the hole while you are weeding.
11 Jun, 2013
Nature never ceases to amaze.
12 Jun, 2013
Now there's an excuse not to weed! Fascinating to watch bees.
13 Jun, 2013
How interesting. I have never seen one looking for its lost front door but if I do I'll know what happened. I have seen wasps carrying soil particles when making a nest in a bank - watched their progress for several days. It was my own fault I got stung in the end! Good thing bees are more peaceable.
14 Jun, 2013
Recent posts by honeysucklegold
- Just the good bits!
22 Jun, 2021
- Lost and found + a couple of birds
20 Jan, 2021
- Iochroma australis for Young Alistair
16 Sep, 2020
- Country Folk
16 Jul, 2020
- The Birds and the Bees
7 Jul, 2020
- Amazing what you don't know!
27 Jun, 2020
Members who like this blog
-
Gardening with friends since
19 Feb, 2013 -
Gardening with friends since
2 Nov, 2009 -
Gardening with friends since
9 Aug, 2009 -
Gardening with friends since
16 Jul, 2011
How exciting having a bees nest under your shed, bet you'll enjoy being able to watch them come and go!
11 Jun, 2013