listed by colour pattern Common UK White-tailed bumblebee The Ginger-tailed bumblebee Social bumblebee As temperatures start to Red-tailed bumblebee warm up, you should start to see some newly emerged Tree bumblebee () Queen/Worker/Male bumblebee queens on the wing Big Recent immigrant from France. poster looking for food and nesting Unique brown, black and white colour sites. We call the species that pattern. This bumblebee has spread emerge first our early emergers, rapidly and is now widespread in and they tend to be our most England, Wales and Scotland. common bumblebee species. Photo: Bumblebee worker

Buff-tailed7 bumblebee () Queen Worker Common carder (Bombus pascuorum) Queen/Worker/Male

Queens and males usually have buff The only common brown bumblebee. tails but workers’ tails are largely Some forms have a very dark white, usually with a hint of buff at the abdomen, but others are very light front margin. Yellow bands slightly and similar to rarer carder . darker/dirtier than in the White-tailed. Photo: Bumblebee worker Photo: Queen bumblebee by Andrea Finch

White-tailed bumblebee () Queen Male (Bombus pratorum) Queen Male

Similar to Buff-tailed bumblebee but A common small bee with an tail always pure white and bands orangey-red tail. Has one or two brighter yellow. Males have yellow yellow bands and males have a faces and often extra yellow bands. yellow face. Rarely seen after July. Photo: Queen bumblebee by Andrea Finch Photo: Male bumblebee by Gordon Mackie

Garden bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) Queen/Worker/Male Red-tailed bumblebee () Queen Male

Females are all black, with a red tail. A very long-tongued species with a Males have yellow hair on the face white tail and yellow bands, including and a yellow band at the front of the one at the rear of the thorax. Has a thorax. longer ‘horse-like’ face. Photo: Queen bumblebee by Jack Reid Photo: Male bumblebee by Andrea Finch

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