NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
by Peter Hanscomb
We have a new garden resident, or I should say residents. One of our bird boxes has been colonised by what I think are Tree Bumblebees. ( any help with identifying my new friends would be most welcome)
The tree bumblebee is an invasive species here in the U.K. , first spotted back in 2001. So far there has been no significant signs of any aggression from my new friends. And the limited research carried out so far indicates no threat to their native cousins.
I have exactly the same. I was told tree bees or carpenter bees. Give it a Google.
Will doRobert, trying to get a better set of pictures without disturbing the bees
Looks like it’s tree bees. We had them in a bird box a few years ago. At the end of the season they disappeared, have never returned & blue tits nested in the same (cleaned) box last year. The bees were no problem, they just got a bit active if we went near the box when their nest was there, but apart from that they provided plenty of opportunities to observe them.
Bees are new for me , going to be interesting getting to know my new visitors