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Bumblebee Conservation Trust
@bumblebeeconservationtrust

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September is your last chance to see many of the UK’s common bumblebee species ⚠️ This month, many bumblebee nests will naturally come to an end and new queens will settle down to hibernate over the winter. Did you know...? ❄️ Bumblebee queens spend the entire winter hibernating alone. 🌷 When a queen first emerges from hibernation in spring, she feeds on flowers, drinking nectar to gain energy. 🏠 Then begins the search for a suitable nest site: holes in the ground, long grass, bird boxes and beneath garden sheds. 🌼 Having chosen her nest site, the queen will collect pollen and nectar from flowers, and lay her first batch of eggs. 🐛 Little white larvae hatch, which feed on the collected pollen. 💼 This first batch of offspring consists entirely of workers. These smaller females carry out work inside and outside the nest. 👑 The queen remains inside the nest, laying more eggs for the next batch of workers. 🚹 Towards the end of a nest, males are produced and leave. They do not collect pollen. Instead, they spend their time feeding on nectar and trying to mate with new queens from other nests [see Red-tailed bumblebee]. 🔋 Once mated, new queens feed heavily on pollen and nectar, storing the energy as fat inside their bodies to provide energy during a long hibernation. 🍂 The old queen and her nest will naturally come to an end as summer turns into autumn. Only the new queens survive until the following spring by hibernating underground. What bumblebees have you spotted recently? 👇🏼 [Image descriptions: Photos of each species of the Big Eight alongside the corresponding ID graphics for queen, worker and male. 1) ID graphics for the common bumblebee species to see in September. 2) A Buff-tailed bumblebee male feeding on a pink flower. 3) A White-tailed bumblebee male feeding on a pale blue flower. 4) A Red-tailed bumblebee queen and male mating. 5) A queen and worker Common carder bumblebee feeding on two pink flowers. 6) A Heath bumblebee queen feeding on a flower. 7) A Garden bumblebee queen feeding on a purple flower. 8) A Tree bumblebee queen feeding on a red flower.] #Bumblebee #Bees #Pollinators #Wildlife NatureLovers #Nature #Garden #WildlifeAddict