Bumblebees are large, hairy bees and are close relatives of the well-known honeybee. Most species of bumblebee live in colonies, but their colonies are much smaller than the honey bees or wasps who can have up to several thousand individuals, the bumblebee colony will only consist of around 50 – 150 individuals.

Bumblebees do not store food (honey) to survive the winter. The little food they do store is saved to feed the larvae and the egg-producing queen, or is used to survive cold, windy and rainy days. Like their relatives the honey bees, bumblebees feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young.

Just like social wasps, the bumblebee colony will die off at the end of summer. The new queens will then find somewhere to hibernate during the winter, usually underground and emerge to find new nesting ground ready to start a new colony in spring.

Bumblebees are very important pollinators to many plants, flowers and fruit trees. It is very interesting to quietly observe a bumblebee at work. Watch them in your garden – without disturbing them – and see how fascinating they are.

Bumblebees generally visit flowers exhibiting the bee pollination syndrome. They can visit patches of flowers up to 1 – 2 kilometres from their colony. Bumblebees will also tend to visit the same patches of flowers every day, as long as nectar and pollen continue to be available. While foraging, bumblebees can reach ground speeds of up to 54 kilometres per hour.