Article - The Humble Bumble Bee

 

It is difficult to imagine anything which describes an insect less adequately than the ‘humble bumble bee’. If only human counterparts could develop a system on equal terms as those practiced by the bumble bee, we would be in "Utopia".

This small article on the life cycle of the bumble bee, its habitat, its activities and its very necessary contribution to mankind’s well being will hopefully convince those who think "its only a bee" to think differently.

We will start with a single mated Queen bumble bee. She will have hibernated in a suitable nook or cranny during the cold winter months. She has survived on her body fat and has reduced her metabolism down to the very barest in survival.

As the spring days begin to warm she will leave her sanctuary and begin the task of finding a suitable nest site. This is a dangerous time as the weather can suddenly change from a warmish atmosphere into a cold, wet and windy spell which can cause many Queens to die. Her activities can be seen when she flies around likely places i.e. under a pile of stones, the base of the garden shed, an old mouse’s nest situated in the bottom of a dry hedgerow. She will start to collect what nectar there is in the early flowers and of course she will consume pollen. Nectar in its raw state is the bees’ carbohydrate and the pollen is its protein supply.

Once she has located a suitable nest site she produces a number of cells constructed from beeswax produced from glands in her body, again using up nectar and pollen for this production.

The cells have pollen placed in and some nectar, she lays an egg and in the early days of spring it will be necessary for her to fly on as many occasions as she can to keep the larder stocked. The larder is again made up of "wax cups" and these are filled with nectar.

As the first of the eggs hatch and become bumble bees, they in turn will take on the duties of collecting nectar and pollen for the oncoming infants. All these offspring are infertile females.

Once the numbers increase the Queen ceases flying and remains in the nest.

All summer the nest increases in size and towards late summer the Queen lays a number of male eggs, these turn into drones and she also produces Queens. When the drones and the new Queens are old enough they leave the nest and the Queens are mated by the drones. The drones die and the newly mated Queens find a suitable hiding place to hibernate for the winter, thus ensuring the propagation of the species. The remaining inhabitants of the nest, including the old Queen, die off when the days shorten and the forage becomes insufficient to sustain them.

There is a wide variety of bumble bee species and these vary from the very small dark backed with orange tails, to the very large black backed with white tails.

They do have a sting and are prepared to use it if they are threatened, but unlike the honey bee the sting doesn't have a barb so the bumble bee doesn't lose its sting when it stings so a bumble bee can sting more than once. Both Queen and worker can sting but not the male or drone.

What nicer sound can there be than to hear the steady drone of the bumble bee going about its tasks on a lovely warm summer’s day?

Bumble bees differ from our native honey bee in many ways, but they both need pollen for their existence so they are extremely important to farmers, growers, and gardeners alike for they have to be the finest pollinators in the world. Crops cannot produce seeds and fruits unless the flower has been pollinated. A very good example is "Oil Seed Rape" – the well known yellow flowers seen in many fields during early spring. This flower is wind pollinated but due to the early flowers being spaced out, there is a risk that the early flowers will not produce a seed pod if only relying on the wind for pollination. With adequate bumble bees or honey bees the crop can be increased by as much as 3 cwt. per acre.

It is necessary for us to try and conserve our green and pleasant land, but unfortunately we are not doing so in the correct manner.

There are many organisations making many efforts to correct a lot of the mistakes we have caused. Roadside spraying with herbicides has been greatly reduced. "Set aside" created in many rural areas has added to the habitat suitable for wildlife. Over the past 50 years, 150,000 miles of hedgerows have been pulled out with little replacement taking place. Broad-leaved woodlands have been cleared ponds and ditches filled in to make fields bigger – all these areas are the natural hunting ground of the bumble bee. When many hedges are cut there is great loss of nectar sources. Blackberry, hawthorn, wild hedgerow flowers are cut in their prime. Care should be taken to establish the end of the flowering in any species which will provide food for the bee’s larder. A well trimmed hedge looks very nice, but it will produce nothing for our bees. Let us think hard before we destroy what has been ours to enjoy for longer than we have been in existence.