Field Guide
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Garden Bumblebee
Bombus hortorum
Not yet photographed by the community
Long-tongued; loves deep tubular flowers; three yellow bands.
Species Profile
Least Concern (currently stable in UK), though locally declining in some regions due to habitat loss.
- Lifespan
- Queens 1–2 years; workers 5–6 weeks; males a few weeks
- Size & Weight
- Queens 18–20 mm; workers 12–16 mm; males 13–15 mm
- Habitat
- Gardens, parks, hedgerows, and meadows with flowering plants, particularly in lowland and upland areas across the UK.
- UK Distribution
- Found throughout England, Wales, and southern Scotland; resident year-round, with populations peaking in summer.
- Diet
- Adults feed on nectar and pollen from a wide variety of flowers; larvae are fed pollen and regurgitated nectar by workers.
- Predators
- Robber flies, spiders, birds (particularly great tits), and parasitic flies; cuckoo bumblebees (Psithyrus species) are parasites.
- Mating Season
- July to September
- Breeding
- Colonies establish in spring (March–April); queens lay eggs in batches; colony size typically 50–400 workers; single annual generation.
- Behaviour
- Social insects forming annual colonies with a single queen and multiple worker castes. Workers forage in characteristic steady flight, visiting flowers methodically. Males emerge in late summer and do not participate in colony work.
- •Garden Bumblebees have notably long tongues (proboscis), allowing them to access nectar from deep flowers like honeysuckle and comfrey.
- •They are among the earliest bumblebees to emerge in spring, with queens visible from March onwards.
- •Colonies are annual, unlike honeybees; only newly mated queens survive winter in sheltered soil or under bark.
- •They perform 'buzz pollination' by vibrating their flight muscles on flowers, releasing pollen that other insects cannot access.
- •Garden Bumblebees can regulate their body temperature, allowing them to forage in cooler weather and at dawn and dusk.
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