Wildlife
Vital pollinators of crops and wildflowers, bumblebees are particularly effective with tomatoes, as their buzz frequency releases large pollen loads. All bumblebees form small colonies, visiting flowers as far as 2km away to feed on the nectar and gather pollen. The pollen coats the bee's hairy body and is then combed into a pollen basket. Usually, only the queens survive the winter, so there's no need for bumblebees to store large quantities of honey in the hive. Of the 250 known species, 24 are found in the UK but only six of these are a familiar sight in our gardens.
Did you know?
The bumblebee's buzz is produced by vibrating muscles and not the beating of the wings.
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Bee identification
How to tell the difference between some UK bee species - and identify which might sting.
If we're all being asked to be kinder to bees and give them a helping hand, it's useful to know how to tell the difference between them. Not all bees sting, so this is also a handy guide as to how to predict which are the stingers. Bumblebees are really quite cute close up...
Bee dynasty
The life and death of a bumble bee colony.
David Attenborough describes life at the heart of the hive, exploring the fascinating world of the bee colony. This is one of nature's most highly organised and well constructed ways of life. It's a life cycle story that has provided a rich thematic backdrop to many a work of fiction exploring the nature of humanity and society.
Bumblebee brush
Presenter Liz Bonnin finds red tailed bumblebees nesting in an old sweeper brush.
Presenter Liz Bonnin finds red tailed bumblebees nesting in an old sweeper brush.
Bumblebee nest raiders
Filming ground-nesting bumblebees catches some surprising predators in the act.
Filming ground-nesting bumblebees catches some surprising predators in the act.
Bumblebee nests
Chris Packham takes a close look at life inside a bumblebee nest.
Chris Packham takes a close look at life inside a bumblebee nest.
The Bumblebees can be found in a number of locations including: Africa, Asia, Europe, Mediterranean, North America, Russia, United Kingdom, Wales, Ynys-hir nature reserve. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
Buff-tailed bumblebeeThe following habitats are found across the Bumblebees distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
A bumblebee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere although they also occur in South America. They have been introduced to New Zealand and the Australian state of Tasmania.
Bumblebees are social insects that are characterised by black and yellow body hairs, often in bands. However, some species have orange or red on their bodies, or may be entirely black. Another obvious (but not unique) characteristic is the soft nature of the hair (long, branched setae), called pile, that covers their entire body, making them appear and feel fuzzy. They are best distinguished from similarly large, fuzzy bees by the form of the female hind leg, which is modified to form a corbicula: a shiny concave surface that is bare, but surrounded by a fringe of hairs used to transport pollen (in similar bees, the hind leg is completely hairy, and pollen grains are wedged into the hairs for transport).
Like their relatives the honey bees, bumblebees feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young.
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Take a trip through the natural world with our themed collections of video clips from the natural history archive.
Brilliant bees
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Life in slow motion
Slow motion filming techniques transform amazing wildlife moments into full scale events, and simple action into incredibly detailed video sequences.
David Attenborough's favourite moments
Watch the most memorable moments from an incredible career watching wildlife, chosen by Sir David from the BBC archive.
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Farmland
Brownfield land
Chalk grassland
Heathland
Wildflower meadow
Moorland
Parkland
Temperate grassland
Urban
Warning colours
Colonial
Eusocial
Adapted to flying
Food storage
Metamorphosis
Egg layer
Pollinator
Chemical communication
Visual communication