bumble bee in winter

Bet she is a buff tailed bumble?

Think so. You say "she"?

Well I think the buff tails you see this time of year are either mated queens or workers. But it needs checking I have been known to get things wrong????

We have seen several bees (or one bee several times) in our garden over the last month. We didn't dead head or pull anything up at the end of the season to leave seeds and shelter for wildlife and are amazed at the result. We've had birds visiting the seed heads, especially one wren who hops about every day stuffing his little beak and flocks of goldfinches all over the Verbena bonariensis.

Up until the frosts last week we had nasturtium, nicotiana and a foxglove in full bloom! I've never seen that before. I suppose this might be climate change, a microclimate or just because we left everything to do its own thing.

I am very worried about bees. I read a book by Maja Lunde, 'The History of Bees'. One of the chapters is set in the future, where people had to pollenate the fruit trees daily. I am glad people now know how necessary bees are, and hope the government will stop the use of all pesticides.

I cleaned my car out today and unfortunately disturbed a hibernating lady bird. I placed him carefully in a sheltered spot in the hawthorn hedge, hope he goes to sleep again until the spring.

I have a bee living in my garden. I first noticed it in the helibore. The weather at the time was mild and since it turned cold I assume the bee would have died. But yesterday when the weather was extremely cold there it was again, this time in the herbaceous border. I too have not cut back the plants in order to provide food and shelter for wildlife.

Buff tail bees are around in the winter, haven’t seen any though. www.bumblebeeconservation.org/winter-active-bumblebees/

Aldom

I have a bee living in my garden. I first noticed it in the helibore. The weather at the time was mild and since it turned cold I assume the bee would have died. But yesterday when the weather was extremely cold there it was again, this time in the herbaceous border. I too have not cut back the plants in order to provide food and shelter for wildlife.

They seem to love hellebore! That's what I noticed. Maybe, if we all planted these Christmas roses in our gardens the bee population might have a better chance of survival through the winter.