First bumblebees

In the past week I have at last seen bumblebees in the garden.  The first, appropriately enough, was the early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum), below.

This one has the two halves of her maxillae separated.

Another one doing the same thing.  The proboscis is between the maxillae and the tongue is down the inside of that.

This poor B. pratorum is carrying mites, probably Parasitellus spp.  They don't do harm to the bumblebee but are hitching a ride to her nest, where they will steal some of the pollen but will also feed on other creep-crawlies in the nest. So overall they are probably neutral in the harm/benefit balance.  But looking at them does make me itchy.

Then at the weekend I saw this buff-tailed queen (B. terrestris) resting on the wall of the house.  She has obviously been foraging for nectar but, although she is covered in pollen, she is not yet collecting it.  Fresh from hibernation, she will be spending her time drinking nectar and searching for a nest hole.

The next day I heard a faint buzzing while I was in the greenhouse.  Eventually I found this exhausted bumblebee, just about able to crawl.  I don't know if she had hibernated in the greenhouse and couldn't find the way out, or if she had flown in by mistake.  She is a white-tailed queen (B. lucorum) and was revived by some sugar syrup.  It was 15 minutes or more before she had her strength back and could fly away.  Note the short proboscis.

Yesterday I saw my first common carder bee (B. pascuorum) of the year, also on pulmonaria.

These three photos show how the bee uses her proboscis.  In the first photo the proboscis is folded under the bee's chin to keep it out of the way when flying and moving about.  In the second it is extended and in the third it is in the flower to suck up nectar.

It is interesting how the different  bumblebees behave differently.  B. pratorum is very flighty, moving at high speed around the flowers, stopping at each for only a few milliseconds and being very aware of (and wary of) me.  On the other hand B. pascuorum is much more relaxed, moving methodically from flower to flower and not bothered if I get close.  This one was climbing from flower to flower to save the effort of flying.

She stopped for a moment for a quick bit of grooming and so I could get a better photo.

Minutes later there was a garden bumblebee (B. hortorum) on the same flowers.

You can see her very long proboscis which is very obvious as she flies around.

I have also seen a tree bumblebee (B. hypnorum) but she was quartering the ground looking for a nest so I couldn't get a photo.  Last year I saw all seven common bumblebee species in the garden (plus two or three cuckoo bumblebee species) so six in the first week is a great start.  The one I am missing is the red-tailed bumblebee (B. lapidarius).  I expect there are some around somewhere.