Red-tailed bumble bee - Bombus lapidarius - Family: Apidae

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Red-tailed bumble bee - Bombus lapidarius
© Dr Chris Gibson/English Nature

The queens of this common and widespread species are large and mainly black with a rusty red tail. Queens often emerge from hibernation 3 to 4 weeks later than those of the white-tailed bumble bee and buff-tailed bumble bee. Workers have a similar colour pattern to queens and appear from mid to late May. Males of this species are distinguished from queens and workers by the presence of a tuft of yellow hair on their face.

Commonly seen in gardens and hedgerows, the red-tailed bumble bee often nests under stones or slabs. This species is unlikely to sting unless its nest is endangered. However, red-tailed bumble bees will often fly menacingly around the heads of intruders, in an attempt to prevent damage to their nests. Only the young fertilised queen survives the winter, having hibernated in a protected place such as in a hole or under moss. She emerges in spring and starts up her own colony or takes over an existing one. The queen makes pots of wax and pollen into which the first eggs are laid. After about three weeks, the first infertile female workers emerge and take over the nectar and pollen gathering and cell building, while the queen concentrates on egg laying. The larvae are reared on pollen and nectar. Male bees appear in summer and towards the end of the season both male and female bumble bees fly out and mate. The males are not allowed to re-enter the nest after mating and soon die. The fertilised queen starts searching for a safe place to hibernate but both the workers and the old queen die with the first frosts or spell of cold weather.

Bumblebees are now much less common in the countryside and gardens are an important habitat for these species, where they reward us by pollinating plants such as apple trees.

You can encourage them by making artificial nest boxes. Lie a large plastic plant pot on its side. Line the inside with chicken wire, and then inside this place a layer of capoc - upholsterers' cotton. Don't use artificial fibre as bees get tangled up in it. Fill the centre of the nest with hay and place an inverted plant-pot base over the top of the plant pot, securing it in place with wires fed through holes drilled in the side. Finally, drill a hole about 2 centimetres wide into the centre of the plant-pot base and insert a short length of hollow pipe - which becomes the entrance hole. Place the nest in a sunny border amongst vegetation and wait for the bees to find it. If you have white clover in the lawn, give it a flowery break from mowing in the summer - this bee loves clover flowers.

A free leaflet, 'Help save the Bumblebee: get more buzz from your garden', is available from English Nature or the National Trust.

Food

Nectar and pollen.

Plants

Bell heather, Borage, Broom, Butterfly bush, Cardoon, Clustered bellflower, Columbine, Common comfrey, Common figwort, Common mallow, Common toadflax, Cross-leaved heath, Dead-nettle, Dropwort, Escallonia, False dittany, Foxglove, Globe thistle, Gorse, Harebell, Hazel, Hebe, Honeywort, Ivy, Lesser celandine, Meadow crane's-bill, Monk's-hood, Myrtle, Nectaroscordium siculum, Onion, Pincushion flower, Purple-loosestrife, Ragged-robin, Red clover, Sainfoin, Scorpion weed, Sea-holly, Snapdragon, Spurge-laurel, Sweet scabious, Teasel, Tree-mallow, Viper's-bugloss, Virginia creeper, Water figwort, White clover, Woolly lamb's ear, Yellow-rattle, Zigzag clover

Predators

Badger, Wood mouse, Yellow-necked mouse