Friday, March 30, 2012

A Garden tick and a lifer!

Last year I had a brief glimpse of a bumble bee that I fancied may have been Tree Bee, Bombus hypnorum. By the time I grabbed the camera it had gone.

So, while checking the moth trap this morning I was surprised to see this one cuddled into the bottom of an egg tray. They are quite a new arrival up here but Nigel, Tom and Tim have had them in their gardens at Morpeth, Tynemouth and Whitley Bay respectively, so I kind of expected one soon...

This bee was new to the UK in 2001 around the New Forest area, but in recent years its spread has gone on unabated.

A great little creature.

7 comments:

Warren Baker said...

Gotta look out for these ;-)

abbey meadows said...

I would of overlooked the one I saw if it had not been for the power of blogging following posts from Dean and Chester birder, though I didn't expect a one as quickly as I did. Nice find Stew and a better photo than mine. They must be more widespread than we realise though for this species you don't need to go any further than your garden.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your first confirmed Tree Bee, Stewart.

Ragged Robin said...

Well done on the Tree Bee Stewart. Alerted by fellow bloggers I have been keeping my eye open for one of these - no luck so far but I am off to empty the moth trap now!

Steve Gale said...

...and you didn't need a pager to see one...

Stewart said...

Cheers All. Yes Nigel it was the likes of Dean blogging about them that alerted me to look out. Like yourself I would probably not thought of it before, now I am wondering about the other Bombus in the garden.

Jerry said...

A great creature and a great photo