Day 347 - A Cracking Brilliant Carder Bee & Really 'Yor-some' Radio York

Me in the Radio York studio!

Hey everyone its Day 347 and a mix of something old and new today. I'll start with the new first. I had the chance to go back on Radio York again today and I met Jonathan Cowap who thought as it was close to Autumnwatch that he'd invite me in to talk about my blog and how its been going since I talked to them last back in May (around Springwatch time). It was great to be on the radio again and I enjoyed the interview. Sorry about the poor alliteration today Jonathon but Y is really hard to deal with, even with the internet. You can hear the interview at the link below - it starts about 2 hours and 14 mins in. I really enjoyed it so thanks Jonathon and Radio York and I'll happily come back again if you want :-)

My interview on BBC Radio York with Jonathan Cowap

The meadowy bit of Geltsdale

And now for the old. The species I'm covering today will be grateful it wasn't where I first headed that day as I saw it the same day as I went to see the Bee Eaters in Cumbria. This little critter was on some plants in a meadowy part of RSPB Geltsdale. As you can see in the photos it was hard to see at first as it didn't stand out as much as some bees. Today I'm talking about the Carder Bee. So what did I find out about this lovely bee?

Not so easy to see!

• Generally the first fact I do whenever I do insects is how common they are and where they are found. Well the bottom line for this one it seems is that it's very common.

• This is relatively interesting as I haven't seen many. myself. Maybe I don't know what they look like in comparison to others.*

• Weirdly, whenever I do insects as well, they get less common the further North and East you go. Well, not in this one!

But ok when you get close

• The only place it doesn't seem common is in Ireland. There's still a couple there though! This might be because not many people report them. You don't know.

• *Well, they look rather different to any other Bumblebees that I have ever covered in my blog, they look more like a Honeybee in shape, and from the top, a Yellow front and a Black back.

• The 'Carder' Bee gets its name from the way they group materials such as wool and other materials together. Another name for this is 'Carding'. Dictionary Definition. They do this to create cover for the larvae.

• They are found most commonly flying from June to October but they can bee ( it had to bee said at come point :-) seen from March to November.

Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
on Devils Bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis)

• The colonies that they have up to 200 workers in them and only young queens survive Winters and get new nests in Spring. 

• Carder Bees are found in the usual bee-y place, meadows, other grassy areas, sometimes they are found even in gardens!

Here are some links to some more information:

NatureSpot - Carder Bees

ARKive - Carder Bees

Hope you enjoyed.

Z.