Bumblebee Spotting

We went to a University May festival weekend.  We attended two events aimed at Luath’s age but we took in some of the side exhibits.  One of them was about bees.  The university is helping people survey what type and where bees are.  I didn’t know there were so many different bumblebees and ones called cuckoo bumblebees.  I picked up a leaflet that features the main bumblebees and we have been trying to identify the ones we see.  It is very tricky to get a good enough look as the bee buzzes from flower to flower to be sure exactly which type it is.  However it is lovely to take the time to stop and watch the bees at work.

The main bee we see is a white tailed bumblebee but we have seen two other types (we think).

I made Luath a peg doll of a queen white tailed (although she wanted it to have a face).
   
The only story book we found at our library was The Beeman by Laurie Krebs – this is a Barefoot book about honey bees, but Luath enjoyed the illustrations and text.  It is an informative book but did confuse Luath slightly and she kept telling me the bumblebee we saw was away home to make honey for us.
Resources
Bumblebee conservation trust has a leaflet on the eight main bees in Britain.  The leaflet we have contains 23 and there is a booklet you can purchase with the details of them.  It has a section called Bumble Kids, most of which is too old for Luath.

Scottish National heritage has a free eBook on Scottish bumblebees
(Luath is 29 months)
 
Shared with Eco Kids via Organic Aspirations