Bombus lapidarius – Pencil and Leaf

A Box of Bees and more…

By Val Littlewood June 9, 2013 January 4, 2020 Uncategorized

It’s been quite busy in the Garden this last two weeks. At last some Bumble bees are out and about. Busiest have been the tiny Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) workers. They have been everywhere on every flower they can manage. A patch of phacelia has just come into flower and because they are so small they find it very difficult to navigate the spiky stamens and have to adopt a head first, dive in strategy. Bigger bees have no problems.

A tiny Early Bumblebee worker contemplating a tricky landing through the long stamens of the phacelia. It is so attractive to them that they don’t give up easily

Head first, in-between the spikes.

This bigger heavier Carder bee (Bombus pascuorum) easily accessing the nectar of this lovely green manure plant which seeded down from last year.

And there are other bumble bees too:

A Garden Bumblebee (B hortorum) worker on the hardy geraniums

A Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) on the cotoneaster

A Box of Red Tailed Bumblebees

Just over a week ago now my very kind friend Matthew arrived at the door with a large buzzing plastic bag containing a tiny new Bombus lapidarius nest complete with about 10 cells 6 little workers and the magnificent Queen.
Matthew had been asked to move the nest and not wanting to destroy it asked if I could look after it. You bet!

The nest in the new box with some extra dried grass. You can see the large beautiful Queen at the top. They were very busy attending to the cells and so not too concerned about me and the camera. I think things might be different now!

So the nest and its few occupants have been (rather gingerly) transferred to a box which I hope will allow for a reasonable size colony and added to the bee house. It’s above the ground and hopefully out of the reach of mice.
I am very glad to report that there seems to be quite a bit of coming and going and at last the chive flowers which have been out for ages are getting some attention.

Little red tailed worker on the chives, The flame red colour of these new bees in simply stunning.

Anyway I have given them the best chance I can. They have flowers, shelter and someone looking out for them.

And not forgetting the solitary bees…. The mason bees have been filling up holes in the bee house and everywhere else. The Hairy Footed flower bees are, I think all done. Their strawberry pot home now filled up for the second year. Here is a lovely little solitary mining bee which my bee guru Andrew thinks may be Andrena chrysosceles.

You can see how tiny it is by my thumb to the left. She stayed put very obligingly for a couple of photos.

And, joy of joys, at Easton last week, the so very chic female Grey Mining bee, Andrena cineraria with elegant black and white hairs on her thorax and glossy black abdomen. A little film star of the wild bee world.

From a sunny day last week at Easton, not the best photo in the world but lovely to see her.

I hope all your bees are buzzing and things warming up for summer and, yes, I have been working as well as bee watching…honestly…more of that soon…

Tuesday Walk and the Humming Pollen Tree

By Val Littlewood April 23, 2013 January 4, 2020 Uncategorized

The morning is glorious, new corn shoots mist the rolling fields with pale green. There are tiny flitting chattering birds who fly alongside me, white, yellow and multicoloured butterflies, more and more bees, many beeflies and tiny dancing black flies. In one of my favourite secluded sun drenched spots I find a willow, heavy with pollen laden catkins covered with bees and butterflies. I stop for a while to watch.

To watch and listen, to the bees collecting pollen, to an owl in the nearby wood, to see the drifting shape of a buzzard pass overhead, to watch a flame tailed bumble bee collecting moss, to see the delicate long-nosed beeflies hover and dart.

A pollen drenched honey bee

A high flying buzzard

Bombus lapidarius collecting moss

A Peacock Butterfly

A little solitary bee at the field edge It’s a much loved place of mine, on an old road. In its summer flora it reveals odd traces of cultivation and there is a stand of ancient oaks nearby.

My sketch of the Humming Willow Tree on the old path, with its glowing catkins set against the dark leafless hedges and trees. There are a few hints of green appearing in the nearby hawthorn branches. Watercolour 5 x 7 inches.

I might choose this willow to be my main tree this year. Willows become more and more fascinating the more you learn about them. But today is a day to be out, to forget your troubles, to be warmed by the sun and cooled by a spring breeze. On the way back I passed the place where a big dead tree fell across the path last year. It has now been chopped back leaving a waving stump. From one angle it looks like a cheery waving figure.. Old Man Tree we call it.

Waving Cheerfully on this lovely day.. Old Man Tree

Four More of the Big Six bees…

By Val Littlewood May 17, 2012 January 4, 2020 Uncategorized

If the recent wet and cold weather has done one good thing it has kept me indoors at the drawing board and able to complete the Big 6 commission. No time to blog about them individually but here are some rather basic scans of the last four paintings.

Bombus hortorum The Garden Bumble Bee

Bombus lucorum the White Tailed Bumble bee

Bombus pascuorum The Common Carder Bee

And the gorgeous big Bombus lapidarius, The Redtailed Bumble Bee..almost everyone’s favourite bumble bee.

All painted on Fabriano HP in watercolour approx 9 x 9 inches.

I think I have mentioned before that I use Graham paints which are just fab for what I need for the bees. I work with quite thick paint and like to be able to push it around quite a bit and of course they use honey as a humectant which is not only very apt but also keeps them moist.

I did a little more work on some of them after these scans but didn’t update the images.

It’s such a nuisance as they don’t fit on the scanner in one go and after spending so many hours on each one I am always worried about carelessly damaging them so I keep scanning to a minimum.

My very cheap all singing all dancing multifunction scanner/printer/fax/copier etc is a crude tool and loses all the subtlety of the originals but at least it’s a record of a month’s hard work.
These bees have been with me now for so long that it’s very hard to see them go. I do get ridiculously attached to each one, probably because I have worked so hard trying to bring them to life.. but I do have 3 more commissions to come!

Also I have some very exciting bee sighting news! I have seen my first snail shell bee in action…! More of that later …

A Start with the Bee Plants & Bombus lapidarius sketch

By Val Littlewood January 30, 2012 January 5, 2020 Uncategorized

I have spent many, many hours over the past month reading books, seed catalogues and online advice about how to plan the garden, what to plant, where and why.
The planning has involved a lot of staring at the mud patch, a huge amount of digging and moving barrow loads of soil from A to B and then on to C and sometimes back to A again.

We have added a couple of new paths, constructed two simple raised beds, (hopefully correctly placed and orientated) and excavated a small hole, now plastic lined and water filled which will, without doubt, become a magnificent wildlife pond.

Some fascinating pond progress:

It’s a small thing, but wonderful because a patch of shimmering sky has suddenly appeared in the lawn and, when the light is right, is bounced up into the kitchen to dance high on the tops of the cabinets and ripple on the ceiling..Quite lovely.

Planting the pond This is not my first pond but the first I have tried to create with regard to native plants and wildlife. Luckily I found the extremely helpful Puddleplants who can provide wildlife friendly collections for native and ornamental ponds.

So the pond is now started and after some excellent advice from Annette at Puddle, the first plants to go in are:

Deep water plant: Fringe Lily,
Oxygenator: Starwort
Marginals: Marsh marigold, Purple loosestrife, Yellow flag, Water mint, Forget me not, Bog bean, Brooklime, Cotton grass, Carex and Penny Royal.

I will add more as they become available, but (and this is doomed to fail) will try not to plant too much. It’s a problem because I tend to get over-excited about the possibilities and over-optimistic about the greenness of my fingers.
I am beginning to edge the pond with stones, have made two escape slopes for hedgehogs and small mammals, have an overhang to create a shade area and some old roof tiles and bits of wood waiting to be placed around the edge which will give cover for frogs etc.
I won’t be having any fish.
Advice indicates they are not compatible with other wildlife, although I did like to see the brilliant orange flashes of my small goldfish in the previous pond who, for years, seemed to share their home companionably with frogs, newts and sticklebacks.

And more working bee drawings… Working on the the garden, revising the rats nest of electrics in the roof and trying to get some heart into the ugly bungalow by opening up the chimney for a woodburner, seem to have caused a huge and disproportionate amount of mess and chaos.
Everything has been covered in plaster dust and mud and my work room has been piled up with “stuff” so artwork has had to take a back seat for a couple of weeks.

But I am back to the working sketches now and to Bombus lapidarius, the Red Tailed or Stone, Bumble Bee. I never get tired of watching this bee. Luckily for us they are very common.
The queens are big and extremely beautiful, so very velvet black and so very flame red. They were the stars of my bee walks at Heligan. Every day for two weeks, at 2.00 pm, perfectly on cue, the workers zoomed in and out of their nest.

We would walk over to a patch of rather unpromising ground by a tree where there was a small hole in the earth. “Just watch” was all I had to say. The Oohhs, Ahhhs and delighted smiles were very rewarding.

They like to nest on the ground, under things, often at the base of walls or under sheds (yes…I am hopeful).. hence the name the Stone Bumble Bee. I have been looking out on BWARS for early sightings, one was possibly seen on Christmas Day but nothing reported since then. Looking at the forecast for this week I hope they are still hunkered down.

I am still undecided about the flower. The possibilities are many because they forage from a wide range of plants. Thoughts are maybe a scabious of some kind.

PS. Most fun and satisfying recent gardening activity:

buying a cheap garden shredder to chop up the massive pile of mixed hedge loppings and then using them for mulch… How green are we?? …3 hrs of legal and productive destruction…highly recommended 🙂

Red Tailed Bumble Bee and Chives.

By Val Littlewood February 11, 2010 January 22, 2020 Uncategorized

The beautiful and very handsome queen Bombus lapidarius, the Red Tailed Bumble Bee or “Stone” Bumble Bee, from its habit of nesting under stones or in walls.

I sketched this one in November. This is the bee that Thomas Belt back in 1896 felt would be the preferred pollinator over B terrestris for the New Zealand clover crop, mostly because of B terrestris’ naughty nectar robbing habit.
Belt also has a nice account of B lapidarius’ bad temper.
Read more in my previous posts The Beautiful but Grumpy Bombus Lapidarius and Floral Larceny and Nectar Robbing.

The queen is large and a glossy black with the flame red tail. The workers are much smaller with similar colouring and the males still have the red tail but have 2 yellow stripes on the thorax.

male, left and female/worker right, from my ID sketches.

Because of its rather short temper it might not be the hot choice as an aid to pollination unless perhaps you intend to grow fields of onions, because although these are relatively short tongued bees they do like chives and the allium family in general.

They will spend time clambering around the flower head, which is comprised of many small florets, gathering a sip of nectar at each stop.

Chives Allium schoenoprasum

Surely every garden must have chives? When I was home in the summer they were very alive with bees and hover flies. But even without any interest in bees they are so pretty, easy to grow and wonderful to cook with.
I would lift a few potatoes, simply boil them and serve them tossed with butter and fresh chives… delicious..

Image by V. J. Matthew from Shutterstock.

Good companions

Chives are also very good companion plants, sow them amongst your carrots, tomatoes and brassicas, to help not only to repel bad bugs, but improve both flavour and growth. I wonder how?

I was also interested to read that they seem to help prevent scab in apple trees. The ancient unnamed apple trees at home are full of scab so I will have to send my father some seeds.

Just like cornflowers in my last post, you can add the florets to salads, for both prettiness and flavour, and of course if you happen to be plagued by evil spirits, hanging up a bunch of chives will do the trick.

The Wing Problem.

Deciding the position of the wings is always a problem. Sometimes they can cover too much of the body and therefore the pattern and colours of the bees.

I don’t put too much detail in because they can look much too solid if you paint every vein. As you can see I still had not decided, even when I started painting.

There had been some of those nasty “bad painting” spirits around yesterday morning, the ones that make your hand shake when you are poised over that tiny detailed bit, but after I hung up the chives everything went just fine, (I wish).

Finally, I settled for the forward wing position

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Red Tailed Bumble Bee, Bombus lapidarius, and Chive Allium schoenoprasum

watercolour and pencil on Arches HP, 6 x 8 inches

Bumble Bee ID sketches

By Val Littlewood January 12, 2010 January 25, 2020 Uncategorized

I have braved my freezing work room today and made some sketches of the BIG SIX British Bumble bees.

The lazy artist, that I often am, usually wants to miss out this stage of the work.
There are very nice examples of Bumble bee patterns on the internet which I could just print out. But, when I do take the trouble, I am always glad because sketching them will help me remember the differences.

Queens,Workers and Males. I have said before that I am not a scientific illustrator but I do like to try to get things right and one problem of drawing Bumble bees is that they vary, male, to female, to worker, sometimes in colour, size and pattern.

And then there are some variations within each species.

So a reference colour chart of males and queens/workers to refer to will be a help, along with a few notes of flowers etc.

Most of this information comes from the Natural History Museum’s site and the very excellent Bumblebee.org, which I have quoted from before.

The welcome sun glancing across my sketchbook gets to my work room at 4 pm, before that it is icy, but they have promised a change tomorrow…hurrah ..

and, should I forget these temperatures when I am struggling to keep cool in the summer, I took this photo of our icy apartment block roof this morning…

I know, it’s nothing compared with some parts of both the USA and the UK but it’s still hellish cold..if that’s possible :)..

The Beautiful but Grumpy, Bombus lapidarius

By Val Littlewood November 5, 2009 January 25, 2020 Uncategorized

Number three of the four Bumble bees is Bombus lapidarius, the (other) Red Tailed Bumble Bee, or the Stone Bumble Bee after its name “lapidarius”. Called this because of its liking for making nests under stones or in stone walls.
The one I have sketched is the female, all black with the beautiful flame red tail. Below is the male with similar colouring, but with a yellow band on the thorax and a tuft of yellow hair on the face.

Photo of Small male Bombus lapidarius by Nigel Jones for BWARS ( Bees Wasps and Ants Recording Society) here.

The facts CLASS: Insecta
ORDER: Hymenoptera, Bees, wasps, ants and sawflies.
SUPERFAMILY: Apoidea. Bees and some wasps.
FAMILY: Apidae. Bees.
GENUS: Bombus. Bumblebees
SPECIES: Bombus lapidarius
Lengths: Queen 20-22mm, Workers 11-16mm, Male 14-16mm.

These beautiful bees are common in Europe, I saw two while I was at home in Lincolnshire in September. They make a slightly later appearance than some other Bumble Bees. and form colonies of up to 200. They are busy active creatures, visiting many different species of flowers but seem to particularly like clover and dead nettle and they apparently like an easy landing, so will also choose daisies, dandelions and thistles.

A Bad Tempered Bee

Bombus Lapidarius has a short fuse. They are known to “buzz” you menacingly if you disturb or threaten them. Bad behaviour, in the old days, was punished with deportation but it was in spite of this grumpy nature, that worthy Victorian, Thomas Belt, advocated these bees be shipped out to New Zealand to help with pollinating clover.
Thomas Belt was an extraordinary man.
This is the Thomas Belt who “discovered” the complicated relationship between the Bulls Horn Acacia and ants. (see my earlier blog entries for info about him and the twiggy home of my beloved, now long gone “Ant” here)

The following from 1897 edition of the wonderfully named “Science Gossip” demonstrates how his early childhood toughened him up for his astonishing life as mining engineer and naturalist..

I know nothing more interesting to a naturalist when he wishes to rest from more serious study than to devote a few hours on a summer’s day to watching the humble bees at work amongst the flowers.
They have been favourites of mine from early childhood, one of my first experiments being the determination of the stinging powers of the three species, and the time they might be kept between the hollow of the two hands before they got sufficiently angry to sting.

My recollection is that Bombus lapidarius, although it has the longest proboscis, has also the shortest temper and most virulent venom, and if it be not set free as soon as its first angry note is heard, it will not fail to punish severely.
Notwithstanding this trait in its character, I have no hesitation in recommending that it is the one that should be sent out to New Zealand, and that Bombus terrestris should not be.—Thomas Belt, the Cedars, Ealing.

I will explain why he does not recommend B terrestris in the next post…
But, forgive them their occasional fit of pique, grow some of their favourite plants… or rather go easy on the weeding in your garden, as weeds seem to be their flower of choice.

What could be nicer than to have these strikingly beautiful bees gracing your flower beds and what a good excuse for that neglected patch… just don’t upset them!
I have spent hours pondering this handsome bee. Its beauty is in its dense blackness, contrasted with its flame red tail. The body tends to be naturally very curved which means that seen from above its head is almost always invisible, but it does have the appealing chubby bumble bee look.

However in the end I decided on more of a side view which shows off the beautiful tail and some head features, while retaining the really furry nature of the pile…. It’s always such a compromise..

Some final pencil sketches ..

Finished one soon …

Tag: Bombus lapidarius