BUMBLE BEE

The Latin name for the bumble-bee is Bombus pascuorum.

The bumble-bee is a large insect with a body length of 1.5 to 2.5cm. It is broad and very hairy, marked with a combination of black, brown, white and yellow. Some species are conspicuously orange-tailed.

They appear in annual colonies. No store of honey is laid up for the winter. Only the young fertilised queens survive the winter, and each starts up her own colony the following year. They live in holes in the ground, or under garden sheds, with numbers building up according to food supply and the weather.