Bumblebees of Caithness and Sutherland

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A guide to bumblebees of Caithness and Sutherland

www.bumblebeeconservation.org

Saving the sound of summer Bumblebees of Caithness and Sutherland Bumblebees with white tails

Great Yellow bumblebee (Bombus distinguendus) UK 1 2 priority Now found only in north and west species Scotland. Caithness and Sutherland support the last remaining populations of this bumblebee on the mainland. It is found in habitats rich in wild flowers and gardens with bee friendly plants. Mustard yellow It can be seen between June and bumblebee with a White-tailed bumblebee Garden bumblebee¹ Heath bumblebee² August. distinct black band (Bombus lucorum) (Bombus hortorum) (Bombus jonellus) Illustration: Queen between the wings Found almost Garden bumblebee and Heath bumblebee share everywhere. Males have the same banding pattern, but Garden bumblebee a yellow face the same as has a long ‘horse-like’ face and male Garden Ginger/yellow bumblebees male Heath bumblebees bumblebees do not have a yellow face. Illustration: Queen and Male Illustration: Queen Illustration: Queen Moss carder bee Common carder bee (Bombus muscorum) (Bombus pascuorum) Difficult to identify as it looks Found almost like the Common carder everywhere and often bee. Requires flower rich warmer-coloured than grassland and shown here. UK heather moorland. priority Illustration: Queen Illustration: Queen species

Bumblebees with red/orange tails Buff-tailed bumblebee Broken-belted Gypsy cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) bumblebee (Bombus bohemicus) (Bombus soroeensis) 1 2 Increasingly common in Four cuckoo bumblebees the far north. Workers Found on moorland or occur in Scotland. Gypsy look very similar to White- forest edges. Queens cuckoo bumblebee invades tailed bumblebees, but can be seen June to the nests of White-tailed with a ‘coffee stain’ of July, which is later than bumblebee. White-tailed queens. brownish hairs at the top Illustration: Queen of the white tail. Illustration: Queen Illustration: Queen and Early bumblebee Red-tailed bumblebee¹ Bilberry bumblebee² Worker Easily confused (Bombus pratorum) (Bombus lapidarius) (Bombus monticola) with White-tailed Common small bee seen Not regularly recorded in the area. Look for Red-tailed bumblebee. from March to August. bumblebees turning up in lowland gardens and the Generally smaller, with extra yellow Illustration: Queen and Male Bilberry in upland heaths. hairs ahead of the Illustration: Queen and Male Illustration: Queen main yellow band. Great Yellow foodplant pratense) Afavoured Red clover(Trifolium to surviveandneedourhelp. Sadly, bumblebeesarestruggling millions totheUKeconomy. pollination ofcropsisworthmany our wildflowersandcrops. Their important pollinatorsofmany sound ofsummer. They arevery Bumblebees arethesightand bumblebees? Why conserve valued. bumblebees arethrivingand have avisionforworldwhere distribution ofbumblebeesand aim toincreasethenumberand the ‘plightofbumblebee’.We due toseriousconcernsabout The Trust wasfoundedin2006 Who arewe? conservation concern. Yellow bumblebeeareofgreat while otherssuchastheGreat have becomeextinctnationally meadows. Twobumblebees loss of over 97% of our wildflower decline, thisislargelyduetothe Our nativebumblebeesarein declined? Why havebumblebees bumblebee: you mayalsospotthefollowing In someareasofSutherland, Illustration: QueenandMale orange hairattheendoftail. to identifyastheyhaveafringeof bumblebees aswell.Malesareeasier and probablyHeathBilberry the nestsofEarlybumblebees Forest cuckoobumblebeesinvade (Bombus slyvestris) Forest cuckoobumblebee Photo credit:NeilCowie www.bumblebeeconservation.org Eastleigh, Hampshire,SO505PE. Lakeside CountryPark,WideLane, Conservation Trust, LakesideCentre, & Wales). RegisteredOffice:Bumblebee registration number05618710(England 1115634 /ScotlandSC042830).Company a registeredcharity(England&Wales The BumblebeeConservation Trust is Follow uson: app. SearchBeeIDinthe App Store. Improve yourBeeIDskillswith anew