Wildlife in the garden - bumblebees

More and more bees are on the wing this month and bumblebees are among the most distinctive.  The queens emerge in spring to feed on nectar and pollen to get ready for building a nest and raising the next generation.  They’re looking for a spot underground - perhaps an old rodent hole, under paving slabs or garden sheds, or even in compost bins.

Some of the bumblebees you’re most likely to see in April include:

More and more bees are on the wing this month and bumblebees are among the most distinctive.  The queens emerge in spring to feed on nectar and pollen to get ready for building a nest and raising the next generation.  They’re looking for a spot underground - perhaps an old rodent hole, under paving slabs or garden sheds, or even in compost bins.

Some of the bumblebees you’re most likely to see in April include: 

White-tailed bumblebee - a medium-sized bee with two yellow bands across the thorax and abdomen and a white tail.

Early bumblebee - quite a small bee with two yellow stripes, although the workers’ thorax stripe is often quite faint, and an orange tail. 

Tree bumblebee - a medium-sized bee with a ginger thorax, black body and white tail.

Red-tailed bumblebee - a large bee, with a black body and distinctive orange tail.

Bumblebee queens love messy corners, burrowing into leaf litter and soft soil, so we can help them by leaving areas of the lawn unmown, allowing wildflowers to grow naturally and an undisturbed area for nesting, or by sowing plenty of pollinator-friendly flowers like cosmos, sweet peas and sunflowers.