The sparrow among the bumblebees

Every spring, when bumblebee queens want to establish their short-lived states, abandoned mouse nests are valuable assets: 90% of all queens build their nests there.

Among the few bumblebee species that also nest under moss cushions and overhanging herbs or in tree cavities is the common carder bee . It also moves into bird or bumblebee nest boxes.

Our most common bumblebee is similarly flexible in its choice of food. From mid-April to late October, it visits a wide variety of flowers. This makes it one of the first bumblebees of the year as well as one of the last. Favorite food plants with very long flowering periods are comfrey, for example. They also attract bumblebees to gardens.

Due to their inconspicuous reddish brown, beige and black colored hairs and their slender physique, they can easily be mistaken for solitary wild bees.

Image captions:
Only long-nosed bumblebees pollinate the flowers of aconite (Aconitum).
Wild forms of peony (Paeonia) have flowers with very numerous stamens. Bumblebees like to use them as a rich source of pollen.
Male (left), queen (center) and worker (right) of the common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum).

English translation of the information panel in the Botanical Garden. Original German text: Dr. Barbara Ditsch