Bumbling photo

Nice story, shame about the photo

Red-tailed bumble bees are the bad guys

Fluffy and adorable, red-tailed bumble bees, Bombus lapidarius, are ... flying virus-vectors!

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-red-tailed-bumblebees-key-hosts.html

Credit: Uni Halle / Patrycja Pluta

Humble Boy

Recently came across the play "Humble Boy," which contains the conceit that bumblebees shouldn’t be able to fly and don’t obey the laws of physics, but they fly anyway.

Except (1) bumblebees are able to fly, and (2) their flight capability is quite well understood.

Where did the conceit first start?

Anyway, the illustrative poster for Humble Boy shows a queen bee from Apis, not from Bombus.

https://www.expressandstar.com/your-world/2025/04/29/humble-boy-by-charlotte-jones-heading-to-oldbury-rep/

Free nature events to celebrate Wallingford business park's 30th anniversary

The link from the main article takes you directly to "Best pub in South Oxfordshire," which speaks volumes about beekeepers...

Full story here: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/free-nature-events-celebrate-wallingford-050000208.html 

Sebastian Vettel

 

Bumble packs a punch!

This morning a big, fat bumblebee snuck under my shirt and stung me, and it sure packs a punch. Either Bombus terrestris or Bombus lucorum.

https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/white-tailed-bumblebees/buff-tailed-bumblebee/

Photo: Bill Temples

Four thousand hives

Nice piece here: https://www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/countryside/a32568839/bees-thriving-lockdown/

The only bit that really struck home was "the family-run bee farm currently has 4,000 hives"

Holy Smokers!

At a rapid ten minutes per hive, inspections take nearly 700 hours a week!

The article is illustrated with pictures of bumblebees (pictured: Bombus lucorum)

Bee pee?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Beekeeping/comments/d6aiy6/is_this_real/ ?

Don’t worry, bee happy: Bees found to have emotions and moods

From New Scientist:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2107546-dont-worry-bee-happy-bees-found-to-have-emotions-and-moods/

imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock from the New Scientist page

Bees in a bird box

A friend came across these bumbles...

Canadian researchers warn of 'cascading impacts' as bumblebee species decline

By the look of the photo, spearing insects with pins can't be helping too much, either...

See original story here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/bumblebees-decline-pollinators-1.5106260