No, not Albus Dumbledore who “lives” a couple of miles up the road at the Warner Brothers’ Studio, but dumbledore the bumblebee. (Dumbledore is an old English term for a bumblebee).
Most beekeepers are almost exclusively concerned with the one species of bee that makes honey in commercially-viable quantities, the aptly-named HoneyBee (Apis mellifera). However we’re all familiar with Bumblebees, of which there are about 250 species in the UK. Ranging from rather small insignificant bees, to real bruisers of things that can measure an inch long, we see them in their ones and twos and often they are out and about at the end of winter, long before the first honey bees emerge from their winter hives. Bumblebees live in colonies just like honeybees, with a queen, workers and drones. They do store nectar in the hive, but don’t process it into true honey.
The bumblebee, however, can be quite a character and it can be fun to spot and try and identify the different species. Beekeepers are often amateur entomologists too and can’t help but take a healthy interest in anything bee-related. The “general public” too often find the humble bumble quite cute and endearing, but nonetheless when they get in the way and become inconvenient, look for ways to “deal” with the problem. Being on the “swarm list” we sometimes get calls from people concerned about bees in their garden / shed / loft / chimney and one of the first checks to make on the initial phone call is to verify whether the problem relates to bees or wasps (if the latter, we refer them to the council or a commercial pest controller). If bees, we need to establish if they’re honeybees or bumble bees. Most people can tell the difference but it’s fairly easy to take a description over the phone and be pretty sure.
When we get a call relating to bumble bees, the bees have usually been there for quite some time, and it’s always difficult to remove a well-established colony of any species. However occasionally we get a call that we can do something about, and this happened just a couple of weeks ago. Someone called in with a bumblebee problem; they were nesting in an old bird box, but their flight path was directly over a children’s trampoline and with the warmer weather, there was a risk of a child / bee interaction which could be nasty for both parties. Since the bumblebee nest was already very well contained within the birdbox, we made an exception to our usual “no bumbles” rule and that evening, after dark, the box was carefully removed from the tree, wrapped in a sheet and brought home.
In retrospect we should have sited them a little further back on the roof; where they are now, they’re a navigational hazard when accessing the shed or garage. But they’re a nice novelty and very welcome here, even if they will never fill the honey bucket and pay their way.
Welcome, Dumbledore and friends.