Rescued from the grass before we cut it on Sunday
Was this a queen looking for somewhere to make a nest? There’s an identification page here but I am not sure which one this was. Anyone good at bees out there? She was over 2cms long; here she is from the side. I think she is a buff tailed bumble bee…
From the side....
Zeb Bakes 
I love these bees! They are huge. Do they sting? That would be some beesting.
I am sure they can sting, but they are not very aggressive in my experience. I’ve only ever been stung by a wasp.
What a magnificent photo! I didn’t realise they were so furry!
I see them buzzing around here when the wisteria is in bloom. I have never been able to capture one on film. I did get the bottom half of one at Lake Como.
Up close like that she looks so cuddly! :)
I consider bumblebees and honeybees to be one side of the bee family (the gentler side) and hornets and yellow-jackets on the other (nasty and less beneficial). As I understand it, right about now is when the queens are looking for new places to build hives – I read recently that I can use a ‘meat trap’ to catch hornet queens now, and doing so will mean no hornet hive in my area this year – hope I don’t catch any queen bumblebees in the trap in the process.
She (?) was very furry, very sleepy, possibly cold and perfectly amenable to hopping onto Brian’s gardening glove for a lift to a safer spot than the path of the mower.
She is a beauty! We don’t get bumble bees here..I would love to see one someday :)
When my son was much younger, he used to pet bumble bees. I was always so worried and lectured him – but he wouldn’t listen. He said they liked it and kept doing it. Never was stung. I know he had a light touch, but it still was crazy!
And yet- he never was stung.
Christine, apparently the bumble bee was introduced to New Zealand in the 19th C and there is obviously an issue as to whether they would upset the ecology of Australia should they arrive there eventually. Something I read about it … http://flyaqis.mov.vic.gov.au/chaec/bumble.html
Hi Heidi, I love the image of your son petting bees. He sounds like he has good instincts. My dogs used to nose them when they were little and never got stung, also very surprising.
oh she’s beautiful. Glad she made it through the cold cold winter.
There’s something that makes you sigh with relief when you see the bumble bees again. I don’t know if she had just crawled out of the ground or was looking for somewhere to make a nest. We plant lavender and grow cardoons and alliums specifically for the bees every year.
Fantastic picture Joanna, how do you manage it? I had a bumble on my arm last week – we took loads of photos and none of them were any good.
Thankyou for the flattering comment Choclette!
I have a Panasonic Lumix camera and I don’t use the zoom, just the normal picture setting and got really close to the bee. Seems to work better than zooming if you can get close enough. It has a very good short focal length. I am not very technical. This camera is small, tough and takes most of the bread pics and so on with a setting called Food. So takes pics without flash. I think it has a Leica lens, maybe that’s what makes the difference? It’s been superseded now by newer models. B has big serious Canon cameras for real close ups and more detail and keeps wanting me to ‘get to grips with them’. I haven’t so far. I’m not a camerahead at all.
Ahhhh! He or she is soooo cute. Makes me want to find one and keep it as a pet. I’m so glad you rescued it before mowing. I agree those are just wonderful photographs. They look professional!!