I googled all images of Bombus but couldn't find an exact match with this one I found in the dune vegetation of a nature reserve 'Het Zwin' on the Netherlands-Belgium border 2 days ago. It was a rather cold day and the Bumble bee looked sleepy and drowsy, sitting in the same spot for a very long time without feeding.
I found one which is similar like Bombus ruderarius but not sufficient to be confident.
another pict.;
and a last;
That one looks like one of the later Bumblebees I had on Veronica. I got a reply from the recording scheme on IDs for all the others I sent, but I haven't yet sent this one! I will have to do that, already sent 4 (x12) lots of pics, it's a job sorting them!
Here's mine, it does look very different from all the rest. There seemed to be two which were slightly different in colour, one was yellowish on the tail, the other a light orange. Perhaps I could just send this pic to them as I hadn't many left.
I should also put names to the ones I have been given IDs for, getting lazy!
How about Bombus ruderatus, it looks closer in colour. It's said to be more southern here but I hae been getting many southern species, I'm not so far from the south.
It states males tend to be pale, mine were males as they had the coloured 'moustache' which males seem to have on other species.
http://www.bumblebee.org/uncommonSp.htm
They don't look like B. ruderatus here,
http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/invertebrates_terrestrial_and_freshwater/Bombus_ruderatus/more_still_images.html
OK, I have done the job, I sent the pics for ID! They are the same so when I get an ID I will let you know, I get very confused over some of these. I saw mine in late August, they will be affected by the cold weather which has hit us too, it's only the Queen which survives the winter.
Many thanks! I have also been thinking about Bombus ruderarius but the images one finds on the web can be very confusing.
Yours is the closest match until now, only that the tip of the abdomen looks more yellowish in yours than in mine, but mine also had a whitish 'moustache' on its face. I had a picture of it but threw it, being not good enough to keep, but I might still have it in my camera...
I suppose the site you send your bees for ID are exclusively for 'English' bees ?
I should send mine to that local study group I got the ID for my Colletes halophilus, but they have an awkward system to upload pictures,; one first has to deposit the pictures somewhere on the web like through a programme one has to download and then upload them into their site with a confusing system of little brackets and commands. I get a pointed head from it!
The Bumblebee recording scheme is run by the University of Stirling, in Scotland. It is a recording sheme to find out which bumblebees are here and where they are, but the same ones will be in may other places in Europe.
One of mine had a whitish face, the other more yellow, but both were the same species and I only saw them feed on the Veronica.
Ah, that looks exactly like the face of mine!
I realised when looking through my pictures I had the same bee last year. It was feeding on a Scabious, they must like blues but also they feed on plants which will fit the length of their tongue.
This is it,
I have received a reply on the ID of this one, and it is as I had thought after I sent the pics!
"The bees in your photographs are males of the red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). Males of this species are very different from the females, with yellow faces and collars, and sometimes a yellow stripe between the wings. They usually have the same red tail as the queens and workers, but this can become bleached by the sun and may appear more orangey-yellow than red once the bees have been around for a while."
Thanks a lot!
I found two more bumble bees in my collection that could also be B.lapidarius.
They both were taken also in that same coastal area but more in lands on an agriculture field where someone had been scattering seeds of annuals and wild flowers.
this is the first one on a Cosmos;
The same;
and another on a Calendula
Yes, all B. lapidarius!
