More bees

Sunny day and the first early bee Bombus pratorum sunning itself on the old door of the shed. judging by its relative size, this is a small bumble bee species, this was probably a queen.

This bee has a red abdomen but unlike the red-tailed bee this bee has two yellow bands.

A queen buff tailed bumble bee was again visiting the pulmonaria by the pond.

I watched a buff-tailed queen bee searching for a nest site.

It investigated the gaps between the bricks in the low wall. It then proceeded to investigate around the pond and even the whole in the watering can (laying on its side) before flying off.

Queen Buff-tailed Bumble Bee

I saw the first bumble bee in the garden today. It was a queen buff-tailed bumble Bombus terrestris.

After flying around the window boxes it settled on the window frame sunning itself.

Queen Bumble bees usually come out of hibernation in March to start a new colony as only the queen survives the winter. The pollen baskets on the legs were empty.