Buff-tailed bumblebee

The buff-tailed bumblebee is a big, round, fuzzy bee with a coat of black fur and bright golden-yellow stripes. It gets its name from the mother bee, called the queen, who has a soft buff-brown tip on her tail. The worker bees in the family are a little smaller and usually have white tails instead. This is one of the most common bumblebees buzzing around Europe, and it also lives in parts of North Africa and western Asia.

Buff-tailed bumblebees live together in a family called a colony. They usually make their nest underground, often moving into a cosy old hole once used by a mouse. A single queen starts the whole family. She finds the nest, lays her first tiny eggs, and feeds the babies until they grow into busy worker bees. A nest can end up home to a few hundred bees, all helping out.

The queen is a very early riser. She is one of the first bumblebees you can see in late winter and early spring, buzzing low over the ground as she hunts for a good place to nest. Through the warmer months the workers fly out to gather food, and by the end of summer the colony has made new queens and males to carry on.

Bumblebees eat two things from flowers: a sweet juice called nectar and a dusty yellow powder called pollen. The buff-tailed bumblebee has a fairly short tongue, so it loves open, easy-to-reach flowers. As it moves from bloom to bloom, it carries pollen along with it. This helps the flowers make seeds and fruit, so these bees are wonderful helpers in gardens and on farms.

The buff-tailed bumblebee is doing well and is not in danger, which is lovely news. It is one of the commonest bumblebees around. We can keep it happy and busy by planting lots of flowers so there is always plenty of nectar and pollen to find.