In celebration of World Bee Day here is a small monoprint of one of our queen garden bumblebees feeding on sally willow after emerging from hibernation. Garden bumblebee's can be found in our woodlands, meadows and gardens. They have long tongues to allow them to feed from tubular flower like honeysuckle which in bloom right now in the garden. It is such a joy to watch the garden bumblee bees feeding, all though the month of May they visit the vetches and nettle to gather nectar and pollen. We leave a large area of the gadren over to nettle for the pollinators, the bees and the butterflies who will lay their eggs on the nettle over summer.
The queen bumblee bees nests underground in colonies of up to 100 workers, often using the old nests of tiny mammals. The worker bees can be seen here from late April onwards. this small queen emerged from her nest, she tunnels through tall winter grasses an extention of the nest and back down underground. We have three of nests here that we know of, it's a highlight over summer to watch and listen to the heavy hum as come and go to the nests.
www.allirelandpollinatorplan have released a brilliant booklet in celebration of world bee day called '100 days of hope'. You can find it for free on their website and Instagram page.
Queen bee and sallie is a monoprint, with pollen and chalk on newsprint.