White-tailed Bumblebee.

Today I came across  several male White-tailed Bumblebees feeding on giant thistles in my local copse.

The White-tailed Bumblebee,Bombus lucorum,is a common and widespread species.The hibernating queens emerge in the spring and start a colony by laying a few eggs.These hatch into workers and later in the season the males and new females appear.Once mated the prospective queens will hibernate over the winter while the males die, together with the old queens in the autumn

The male can be identified by the yellow hair on the head and extra tufts on yellow hair on the thorax and abdomen.

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