I was rather pleased to get a photo of a bumble bee on some hawthorn blossom especially as all attempts at butterfly photos had failed dismally.
It wasn't until I got back to the car that "bells started ringing" and I remembered photos seen on other blogs (DDD and Abbey Meadows) and when I uploaded the photos it confirmed (pretty sure my id is correct this time - fingers crossed!) a Tree Bumble Bee. The first time I had seen this species - its made my day. Isn't the Blogging World wonderful? and many thanks to Dean and Abbey Meadows (and any other blogs I may have forgotten about) for alerting me to this species.
Tree Bumble Bees only colonised the UK in 2001 and they quickly became common in the gardens of Southern England and are rapidly spreading northwards.
I shall certainly be keeping an eye open in my own garden from now on for this species.
I will post some more pictures of the Gardens later in the week.
10 comments:
I've never seen a bee like this. It's nice to know that bees are expanding in your part of the world. In my state, bees are okay, but some are disappearing at alarming rates in others. Scary. Beautiful bee. I do enjoy honey:)
I`m sure I saw some of these last year, on a flowering lime tree in our garden. I`ll look out for them again this year.
Lovely photos of the hawthorn blossom too.
Chris - We have problems over here too with declining bees - both honey and bumble bees. This species though seems to be expanding well. Two things I would love to do is keep bees (love honey too :)) and chickens!
Dartford Warbler - I hope you see one again - they are very distinctive - orangy thorax and black abdomen with the white "tail".
Glad you liked the hawthorn blossom - it will be beautiful in a week or so. Wish I'd realised sooner which bee it was as I would have tried to get more photos!
Well done regards your first ever Tree Bumble, Caroline.
Unmistakable, aren`t they ?
Dean - Many thanks. Even I was pretty sure of my id this time :)
Well done! I must look far more carefully at any bees I see. I have a photo in my camera at the moment of a bee, I must check it later as I was so busy trying to get the photo that I didn't have time to ID it! Lovely photos, the blossom is so pretty.
How wonderful, I must look out for them here.
Thanks for mentioning my blog and I'm pleased you have caught up with a Tree bee. I'm sure they are more widespread than we think.
ShySongbird - Many thanks. Good luck with spotting one :)
Toffeeapple - Good luck to you too - hope you get to see one soon.
Abbey Meadows - Thank you too - if it hadn't have been for you and Dean I may well have not realised what I had seen. I shall be looking for them everywhere now!
ShySongbird - Many thanks. Good luck with spotting one :)
Toffeeapple - Good luck to you too - hope you get to see one soon.
Abbey Meadows - Thank you too - if it hadn't have been for you and Dean I may well have not realised what I had seen. I shall be looking for them everywhere now!
Post a Comment