Admiring my friend’s sunflowers, I found my attention drawn to this industrious bee, minutely inspecting this specimen for nectar and pollen. Can any apiarist out there tell me exactly what sort of bee this is?
Monday portrait of a busy – as usual – bee
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
Don’t be daft! Jude’s on holiday. And are you beavering away today? Absolutely beautiful shots.
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Beavering? Me? I’m hiding away – Bank Holiday. Didn’t know Jude was away. Bother!
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Just a couple of days at daughter’s, and Wisley! James is loitering in Dinan before heading home this evening- it looks lovely- and Lisa parading around Lincoln in her Victorian self made finery. Happy days!
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Home made Victorian finery. That sounds enterprising. But … why?
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Because she loves it! Her passion is sewing the intricate styles, busks, basques, all of that, and it’s a yearly Steampunk event that lots of her friends attend. A walking friend who lives in Lincoln was in town yesterday, admiring, and hoping to spot milady, but I expect she was in the tearooms. Her cake habit is much more advanced than mine.
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Of course! It was Whitby’s Goth weekend, wasn’t it? I’m sure they shouldn’t eat cake, those Goths. Bat sandwiches and spider fairy cakes maybe.
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She bakes a lovely bat biscuit! She’s a curvy lady and proud of it.
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Hope someone can help.
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Let’s see …
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It’s a White-tailed Bumblebee and a great photo Margaret 🙂
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Thanks Brian. So you have these in Australia too? My shot could be a tad sharper, but …
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No none here. We don’t have Bumblebees. I am just a know it all 😂😂
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Good-oh!
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Or maybe a Buff tailed bee?
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Hmm. A problem.
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I wouldn’t be able to tell really. Not a bee that is in Australia
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You’re still better informed than me!
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Yes! Brian has confirmed what I was thinking. I also know very little about bees but I seem to have a penchant for white-tailed bees. We have them here. Do bees have tails? 🤔 Love that close up.
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Tails, but not as we know them, Sandra … It was quite an obliging bee, whatever sort it was.
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Buff-tailed bumblebee
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Ah. This is getting votes, as is White tailed. And looking at pictures of both, I can see this is a tricky one. Thanks!
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I have no idea about the bee, but I do love sunflowers!
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Me too Dawn. So cheery.
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https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/white-tailed-bumblebee-species/ This may, or may not, help!
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It certainly shows that buff-tailed and white-tailed are hard to tell apart! Thanks
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I’m no expert on bees but ‘white-tailed’ seems likely. We get lots like this in our garden 🙂
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Lots of bees? Lucky you. They’re fewer than they used to be here. Thanks for the ID.
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It’s more a guess than an ID 😆
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😉
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I’m not from the UK, but was taught on one of many visits that the buff-tailed bee has dark gold bands of color and the white-tailed has bright yellow bands, as well as a brighter tail color. Maybe the answer in this case is the bee is either a white or buff-tailed bumblebee!
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Sounds right to me! One or the other …. thanks, Marian.
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No idea about the bee, but a lovely cheerful picture. Hope you’ve enjoyed the bank holiday weekend.
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Love your photo, Margaret, which reminded me of a Forbes article about “Beehome.” The article say that we have a 35% global annual decline of bee colonies that support 75% of crops. “Beewise, a agtech startup, has created the first fully autonomous beehive called Beehome that comes complete with a beekeeping robot that acts as both medic and guardian to complement the natural intelligence of bees. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferhicks/2021/07/28/here-is-a-fully-autonomous-ai-powered-beehive-that-could-save-bee-colonies/amp/
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Fascinating. Thank you. Bees seem to need all the help they can get these days, so that was positive news.
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You are way to close for my comfort LOL 😀
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Love the sunflower, and the white bummed bee
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Ah, but it could be a common bumblebee, the Bombus hotorum which also has a white tail. Question is, does it have a long tongue?
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Oooh, Jude. I didn’t get that close and personal.
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😂
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A bee on a sunflower – that is colour coordination for you! The second photo is quite detailed – did you take it with your phone?
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No, for once this was my trusty camera.
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Wow Margaret….took me 4 days to be able to post a comment on your blog due to the WP bug. GRRRR….but finally it seems to be fixed. Anyway, I loved your beautiful flower and the very unique little bee!
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Oh, Tina, thanks so much for persisting! And thanks for calling too!
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Splendid sunflower, so bright and inviting no wonder it attracted a busy bee. Any idea of the flower variety?
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Oooh, Agnes, that’s a bit too A Level for me.
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It seems it is for me too as it’s just started the problem again. Arggggh.
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What a gorgeous sunflower and cute little bumblebee. We don’t get bumblebees at all here the closest thing being carpenter bees.
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Oh! And I gather they aren’t in Australia either. I vaguely assumed they were fairly universal.
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I have read that in Africa they are only found north of the Sahara. But a lot of people here call our carpenter bees bumble bees as they are assumed to be the same.
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Ah, well, I’d likely be one of them. I know better now 😉
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As children we grew up calling them bumble bees – I think they made my English mother feel at home 🙂
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That figures!
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