Goliath Bumble Bee

Loving the Sedum.

Yes, it's last meal before going...

Wow! He's massive.

Could this bee be the Queen bee bee-cause it's bee-utiful?

At first I thought it was a pipistrelle bat!

Confession time Sheila. ..so did I!

Yeh it's about that size. lol

Never seen a bee like this before...where do they nest...in the ground... in trees?

I believe they are ground dwellers. I wonder if this is the Queen since they are quite large compared to the others.

I used to keep bees and the queen was the largest, the males had rounded ends and no stings and the female workers were slightly pointed at the end with a definite sting.

I'm going to ask the panel and we can review the responses.

I forgot to mention that the bees I kept were ordinary honey bees and we had two hives. A very interesting hobby. I wonder how much of the colony of this particular species manages to survive the winter with the stores put by, or perhaps it's only the queen who does, so that she can start producing her offspring the following springtime.

I wouldn't want a sting from this giant.

Neither would I Julia. They aren't easily agitated, but when they get mad, they have a very nasty sting - and they can sting repeatedly unlike many of the others

Ouch!!