05/03/2024
The bumblebee queens have awoken from their winter slumbers and have been buzzing about during our sunny spells… Hellebore, Autumn flowering cherry and early crocus seem to be on the menu. Their next course: Forsythia which is just starting to open around the farm 🤗
Have you ever wondered how bumblebees collect pollen? 🤔
👑💼 Queen and worker bumblebees have pollen baskets—shiny, fattish segments on the hind legs used to collect pollen.
🧺 Pollen baskets are a fringe of stiff hairs around a bald, flattened leg. A bumblebee mixes the pollen with nectar and glues the mixture onto the hind leg.
🚹🚺 You can tell whether a bumblebee is male or female by looking at its legs. Only female bumblebees collect pollen and therefore have pollen baskets. Male bumblebees are often seen dusted in pollen.
🌷 The fine hairs on a bumblebee’s body also collect pollen unintentionally. The pollen is transferred from one flower to another. In this way males can also act as pollinators.
🔎🐝 Great Yellow bumblebee
📷 Pieter Haringsma
