Better quality photos should equal easier identification, some species were the same as from my first set of pictures, however there were a few new species I hadn't stumbled upon the first time round.
Red-shanked carder bee (Bombus ruderarius)
This bee is listed under the scarce category, so it was a delight to find out I had encountered one. Being all black with a distinct red tail makes it stand apart from other species. However it does look similar to a female Red Tailed Cuckoo bee (however they tend to only live in the south of the country, so it's highly unlikely it was one of them) or a queen Red Tailed bee. It was a close toss up between a rare version of a common species or a common version of a rare species so I may still be wrong.
Common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum)
The ginger hairs are very visible in this image and although the head is darker, it is most definitely a Common Carder.
Honey Bee
Whilst wandering along I saw this guy on a flower right next to the path. She may not be the exact type of bee I was looking for, however still worth taking a picture of I believe. Honey bees are the species kept and reared by bee keepers with colonies and hives of an enormous size. Bumble bees however have only very small nests and colonies, certain bumble bees remain solitary and possess no colony at all.
Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Buff Tailed bees have a dirty golden/yellow band on their thorax and their abdomen and a white buff tail (hence the name). Queens tail's can vary in colour from white to a dull orange. This is a common bee found in gardens and woodlands around the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment