Bumblebees!

They’ll happily do what they do and won’t bother you Savvy do you have a phobia?

We had one in the bottom of our shed a few years ago, we just worked around it, lucky you.

tanith no I don't have a phobia, its the first bumblebee nest I've seen in years! I'm quite happy to watch them going about their own business.

They seem to be loving the nearby blackberry flowers.

I'm trying to get hold of the lad who cuts the grass to tell him not to do the garden for a while so they aren't disturbed.

I had bumble bees in my old garden and have had honey bees nesting in my wall.

that's lovely. I grow pollinator friendly plants.

I walked past a house this morning and was astonished by the number of bees that were all over a plant in the garden. I've come home and googled and it called lamb's ears. I've never seen a plant so awash with bees, so I'm definitely going to get a couple of those for the garden. I stood for quite some time just watching the bees and their busy-ness. Very calming

Bees used to nest just above the door of an old building where I went for meetings and never seemed bothered by all the comings and goings of cars and humans.

Bees just get on with their work. I had to walk through a swarm of honey bees to get to my car. They ignored me. I would not, however, walk through a swarm of wasps.

Sorry Savvy when you said you wouldn’t garden for the foreseeable I assumed you meant you were scared to be in the garden with the bees.

That's ok tanith, easy mistake to make. I just like to let wildlife get on with its life in relative peace.

We had some nest in an unused bird box a couple of years ago, loved watching them busy in the garden. Left them to their own devices and they disappeared after the summer.
The only person to panic over them was the idiot young bloke who used to live next door, you'd of thought there were huge swarms of them the way he used to moan and wave his arms about! He would rush his children up the path, a good 8 feet away.

I had a load of bees on my Cotoneaster plants a couple weeks ago, just worked around them no problem.

I had a wonderfully moonstruck aunt who taught me how to pet bumbles as a small child. They will indeed hold still for a very soft touch on their backs. I have not passed the trick on to my own offspring out of concern for the bees!

My dad used to rescue downed bees off our yard which had a huge Ivy tree, they were carried in his hankie upstairs to the kitchen where he fed them watered honey or sugar, it was a lovely sight to see them sucking up the mixture with their long black proboscis and then fly off. We used to check the yard for poorly bees before and after school, dad said the poorly ones would be on the cobbles and holding a leg up.
Whether this was true I don’t know.
I still do it today, as does my daughter and grandchildren.
Nobody ever got stung .

I have a bees on my patio right next to the chair where I eventually sit after a hard days gardening and they don't bother
with me at all, much too busy flying in and out of the cracks where they obviously have a nest. I am quite pleased they are there, would be another story if it happened to be a wasps nest mind you!

We’ve had loads in the garden today - one flew past me so close it tickled my cheek. I brought a poorly bee round with drops of water the other day and after that put some tubs of water on the grass with pebbles for them to stand on. Hope none of them lose their footing.

We have quite a few bumblebees enjoying the Johnson's Blue Cranesbill, but I have not ever seen where they nest.

CanadianGran

We have quite a few bumblebees enjoying the Johnson's Blue Cranesbill, but I have not ever seen where they nest.

I belive that bumbles are solitary and don't live in hives or communal nests

They do live in communal nests but not the whole year, each year queen will form a new colony to breed after she emerges from hibernation.

Depending on the species, most of the time they nest at ground level and their nests resemble either a small pile of earth or a close group of mushrooms.

How wonderful, but if needed you can get a beekeeper to move them to a hive.