Basic Information
Common name: Shrill carder bee
Scientific name: Bombus sylvarum
'Washed-out' ginger bee with black thorax band.
High-pitched buzz.
Classification
Bee TypeBumblebee
StatusRare
Cuckoo StatusNon-cuckoo
Tail ColourGinger Tail
Keynotes
• Very rare
• Late emerging bee
Nest Information
• On or just below ground
• In thick vegetation and tussocky grassland
Distribution
- Very rare
- Localised
- Only found in South England and parts of Wales
- Sand dunes, healthlands, slat-marshes, shingle beaches, chalk downs, brownfield sites
Castes
QUEEN
May
No Photo
Pale straw-coloured fluffy face
Pale, straw-coloured collar
Pale straw-coloured rear band
Two or three straw-coloured abdominal bands
Ginger tail
WORKER
June
No Photo
Pale straw-coloured fluffy face
Pale, straw-coloured collar
Pale straw-coloured rear band
Two or three straw-coloured abdominal bands
Ginger tail
MALE
August
No Photo
Pale straw-coloured fluffy face
Pale, straw-coloured collar
Pale straw-coloured rear band
Two or three straw-coloured abdominal bands
Ginger tail
Flower Preferences
- Bird's-foot trefoils
- Black horehound
- Hedge woundwort
- Red clover
- White dead nettles