Carder Bee revealed !

Earlier this year I had noted up to six different Bumblebees, visiting one particular flowering shrub in the garden,

   Ribes Sanguineum Flowering Currant bush. 

 I finished off the blog page I had written at the time with the following quote:-

" One other Bumblebee that has escaped my attention at the moment is the Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum.

I would be very surprised if this turns up in the garden, but you never know,

so a  good excuse to keep looking......."

So six months later, as I sat in the garden, with my feet up, watching House Sparrows sipping water from my garden pond, contemplating nothing in particular, as only a retired person can do with a clear conscious.

I noticed a couple of bumblebees visiting a newly flowered Hebe close to my recliner, on looking  a bit closer, I realized that the missing Bumblebee from my garden list had finally revealed itself.


The Carder Bee - Bombus pascuorum.

It is said that this Bumblebee is quite common,that they emerge from spring onwards, and can be seen as late as November when the males and the old Queens die in the autumn.

New Queens hibernate,  emerging the following spring to start new colonies.

Dont know how I missed this one, as they seem to be all around the garden now.


Its a hard life !