A guide to British bumblebees

By Vivian Russell , Tuesday 24 July 2012

Discover some of the different bumblebees living in Britain today with this stunning slideshow of images by Vivian Russell.

Detailed information about each image is available by clicking on the small 'i' on the left-hand side of the photograph.

Find out how you can help bumblebees.

Read an extract from Vivian Russell's article in the August 2012 issue of Saga Magazine.

 

  • Honey bee and bumble bee eryngium
  • Bombus pascuorum, the Common Carder bee on arabis
  • Bombus pascuorum, the Common carder bumblebee, on cardoon
  • Bombus pascuorum, the Common Carder bee on catmint
  • Bombus pascuorum, the Common Carder bee on Centaurea montana, the perennial cornflower
  • Bombus pascuorum, the Common carder bumblebee, on pulmonaria
  • Bombus pascuorum, the Common Carder bee on Cirsium rivulare atropurpureum
  • Bombus pratorum, the Early bumblebee - worker - on Hardy Geranium cranesbill
  • Bombus hortorum, Garden Bumblebee on Verbascum 'Gainsborough'
  • Bombus hortorum, Garden bumblebee approaching foxglove
  • Bombus lucorum, White-tailed bumblebee on lupin with pollen laden baskets
  • Bombus pratorum, the Early bumblebee, on catmint. The tail is not red, but a dirty orange and there's much less of it, than on the red-tailed bumblebee.
  • Bombus hypnorum, Tree bumblebee approaching mahonia
  • Red-tailed bumblebee queen
  • Bombus terrestris, the Buff-tailed bumblebee, queen on spring flowering heather
  • Bombus lucorum, White-tailed bumblebee - queen - on hellebore
  • Buff-tailed bumblebee on aquilegia
  • Bombus terrestris, the Buff-tailed bumblebee, male on sedum
  • Bombus hortorum, the Garden Bumblebee on Lamium 'Pink Chablis'
  • Bombus pascuorum, the Common carder bumblebee, on agastache
  • red-tailed worker bumblebee
  • Bombus lucorum, White-tailed male bumblebee on origanum
  • Early bumblebee male
  • Red-tailed bumblebee

Related

  • An Early bumblebee worker, robbing nectar from comfrey © Vivian Russell

    How to help bumblebees

    Professor Dave Goulson, a leading authority on bumblebees, explains to Vivian Russell what we can do to help bumblebees

    Read on

  • Carder bee by Vivian Russell

    The plight of the bumblebee

    A little effort from all of us could help to ensure the survival of nature’s most efficient pollinator

    Read on

  • Honey bee

    Bees: what's the problem?

    At the last count in 2008 two billion British honey bees had died over the previous winter- that's one in three of 274,000 hives managed by the 44,000 beekeepers

    Read on

  • Bumble bee

    The bee

    Award-winning nature writer and photographer, David Chapman, on the story behind the headlines about disappearing bees

    Read on

  • Bumble bee on echinacea

    Make a bee-friendly garden

    Everybody associates the sound of bees with summer, but over the past few years many experts have warned that this sound may become more of a faint hum as they are hit by a combination of diseases and a loss of flower-rich habitats

    Read on

COMMENTS

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  • John Richardson

    Posted: Saturday 11 August 2012

    I have a large garden, and am iterested in making it Bee and Butterfly friendly

  • susan low

    Posted: Friday 3 August 2012

    we have bees which seem to live under our lawn,

  • Jack

    Posted: Sunday 29 July 2012

    I have a small bee, not as big as the small finger nail, using the horizontal open end of a Bamboo Cane in my greenhouse to insert tiny pieces of cut leaf in the cane. I think it's about to seal the open end. Most interesting. can u tell me about it. Thank You.

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