- 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.