Queen bees in Spring

24 Bumblebee species

Red-tailed (Bombus lapidaries)

After a week of heavy rain and wind the sun finally came out today and I was excited to notice the spring bulbs coming through. That made me think about bumblebees! Of the 270 species of bees in the UK 24 are Bumblebees (Bombus family). Other families of bee species include the wonderfully named flower bees, shaggy bees and pantaloon bees. Bumblebees are generally easy to distinguish as they are large and fluffy. And many of the most common bumblebee species are easy to identify and tell apart by their distinctive markings, particularly the colour of their tail. Only a few species are seen most commonly including Red-tailed (Bombus lapidaries), Buff-tailed (Bombus terrestris) and Common carder (Bombus pascuorum). The Bumblebee Conservation Trust has lots of brilliant information on their website, including about bumblebee identification and monitoring.

Social bees

Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Common carder Bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum)

Most bumblebee species are social bees which mean they make nests and live as a colony. New nests are formed each spring, and comprise of up to 300-400 individual bees, which is many less individuals than a honeybee hive.  Most bumblebees only live until the end of summer; because the colony does not survive through winter they don’t make honey, like honeybees, to store food. Instead, Bumblebees forage for the food they need day to day. Only the Queen bee, who is much bigger than her workers, survives the winter by hibernating.

The queen bee’s work

The reason I was thinking about bumblebees is that bumblebee queens are among the earliest pollinators to emerge in early spring. The queens search for a suitable location for a nest to lay her eggs and start a new colony. Of course, when she emerges the queens most immediate need is for food in the form of nectar. She’s been fasting since autumn and urgently needs fuel to enable her work to begin.

 Declining bumblebees

Bumblebees are very efficient pollinators, they play an important role in pollinating many food crops in the UK, as well as our wildflowers. Like most of our pollinators bumblebees are facing serious decline. Along with loss of habitat and pesticide use, the changing climate causes many challenges for bees.  Changes in the timing between flower availability and queen bees emerging means the queens search for food can be difficult.

 How we can help

Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

Ensuring our gardens have lots of early spring flowers such as Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), Primrose (Primula vulgaris) and Grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) is one of the best ways gardeners can help bumblebees.

Another way, If you are lucky enough to find a nest in your garden later in the year, is not to don’t disturb it – it will only be there a few months before the colony dies and the bumblebees lifecycle starts again.The ideal nest site for a bumblebee varies by species, they include many places in our gardens, such as a compost heap, under a shed, in thick grass and in a tree.  A queen bees low flying search for a nest is easy to see in Spring.

 For more ideas on how to provide food for pollinators in your garden visit chalkhillrewilding.co.uk