what would we do without knapweed. This handsome chap-ess is the white tailed bumblebee, bombus lucorum. It is common, but we have never noticed white tailed bumblebees before.
8 August:- now that we have had a closer look, most of the bees around here have white tails, which shows how unobservant we are. The bee above is particularly striking.
Looks very much like the American cousins who have been left out of the hives as they close up each end of August! Last week one of us was stung!
ReplyDelete