The Wildlife of
Holy Island

 
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Bumblebees - The White-tailed Bumblebee

First seen on Wednesday 29th July 2020 at Holy Island

Bee identification is far from easy. There are over 270 species of bee in the UK and the differences are often very subtle. The White-tailed Bumblebee sounds easy, but there are several species with white tails (including the Buff-tailed Bumblebee). As well as the white tail, this bumblebee has two yellow bands around its waist and shoulders which are lemon yellow as opposed to the normal orange of many bees, so hopefully I've got this one right. White-tailed Bumblebees are found all over the UK, one of seven commonly found bumblebees. Males have yellow faces, so this one is either a queen or a worker.


 

The White-tailed Bumblebee in the photo below is the male. It is quite different in appearance to the queen/worker, with more bands of yellow, a black area on its shoulders and it has a very hairy yellow face.