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Tag Archives: Bombus lapidarius

Have you seen a bumblebee yet?

18 Saturday Mar 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Bombus lapidarius, British bumblebees, Red-tailed bumbelbee, willow catkins

I’ve seen a couple of Buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) but didn’t manage to get photos of those, so I was delighted yesterday to find a Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius), which was so busy feasting on the pollen of willow catkins that it stayed still for some pics.

230318 red-tailed bumble

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Companions

31 Wednesday Aug 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Bombus lapidarius, Bombus pascuorum, British bees, British bumblebees, Common carder bee, male Red-tailed bumblebee, Red-tailed bumblebee

As our hot dry summer draws to a close, flowers are in short supply so, sometimes, hungry critters just have to share. Here, a male Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius), left, shares with a Common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum). (Yes, I know the Red-tailed doesn’t actually have a red tail and it certainly doesn’t look like the images I had been searching through when trying to put a name to it, but my friendly local Twitter expert tells me ‘males get sun bleached rather quickly’ and assures me this identification is correct. This is precisely why I don’t really ‘do’ bees!)

220831 Bombus lapidarius MALE n Bombus pascuorum

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Red-tailed bumblebee

07 Monday Mar 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

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Tags

Bombus lapidarius, British bumblebees, Red-tailed bumblebee

During Saturday’s walk I was delighted to spot my first Red-tailed (Bombus lapidarius) and Tree bumblebees (Bombus hypnorum) of the year. The only food source in a 20-square-metre area (except for a few daisies on a patch of grass) was a flowering Mahonia bush, which had attracted not only those two bumblebees but also a Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), as well as several species of fly, bee and hoverfly. It just showed how important flowers are for these early emerging insects.

220307 red-tailed bumble

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Another day, another bumble

27 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, spring

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Tags

Bombus lapidarius, British bumblebees, bumblebee, pollinators, Red-tailed bumblebee, signs of spring, willow catkin, willow flower

Isn’t she beautiful? While out walking in a local park I spotted this queen Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) enjoying the pollen of a newly opened willow flower  … and I smiled all the way home.

180327 Red-tailed bumblebee

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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