Red tailed bumblebees and other 3 bumblebee species mating

You don’t often get to see bumblebees mating. Here I was lucky to be in the right places at the right times to film: B. lapidarius, B. hypnorum, B. terrestris? and B. pratorum.

Red tailed bumblebees, B. lapidarius, mating Nurturing Nature

I had some strange looks from passers-by whilst filming this!!

The queen is rather luckier than many I have seen as she only had one mite on her that I could see. Sometimes bumblebees can be literally crawling with the mites, many of which are harmless. 

Other species filmed….

Tree bumblebees, B. hypnorum

Possibly Bombus terrestris

Early bumblebees B. pratorum

For more information or of you wish to help bumblebee visit the Bumblebee Conservation Trust