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Earth bumblebee
One of the most common bumblebees. It has short and uniform black hair with a yellow band behind the head and a second yellow band on the second back plate (top of the rear body). The tip of the abdomen (last two segments) is white.
Nests are often made in old mouse nests or mole tunnels and can be up to 1.5 meters deep. The queen mates with only one male earth bumblebee. Earth bumblebees have a relatively short tongue (average 6.7mm). Flowers, where the nectar is hidden deep in the flower, are therefore not visited by earth bumblebees.
Rock bumblebee
Males of the Stone Bumblebee also have yellow bands on and behind the head in addition to the red tip of the abdomen. The suitable habitat for the stone bumblebee is open landscape, but it also occurs in gardens. The queen builds her nest under stones or roots, in mouse nests but also above ground in bird nests. Queen flies on willow and dandelion early in the spring. Males and workers fly later in the year on clover, thistle and umbellifers. Stone bumblebees are common, they seem to be slightly more represented on the coast than inland.
Meadow bumblebee
Color differences are large in the Meadow Bumblebee. The females are black with a red-orange tip of the abdomen (last three segments).
There is a yellow band on the front of the breastpiece and on the front of the abdomen, which, however, may also be partially or completely missing.
The male has a yellow hairy head and chest. The meadow bumblebee is common in the Netherlands and in various types of biotopes: open landscapes, flowery grasslands, along forest edges, but also in gardens. It usually nests above ground in the herb layer, sometimes also in old bird nests in a colony of 50 to 120 specimens. The life cycle is short: often in August the Meadow Bumblebee has already disappeared. The queens appear early in the year: in late February or early March they visit the early spring bloomers such as willow and crocus.
Peek a boo...
This species is easy to interchange with a bumblebee, but it is a fly. It always flies with a straight snout (not rolled up like with bumblebees) and flies with 2 wings like a fly. A bumblebee flies with 4. It is scattered and common; along forest edges and in roadsides in front.
This bumblebee-like glider appears in early spring and stands out because it forages for flowers like a small hummingbird with its long protruding snout in a 'standing' flight. It is true that it usually holds on to the flower with its long legs.
Wool Glider
Blind bee
Everything about the Dutch name blind bee is incorrect: despite its name, this insect is not a bee but a hoverfly and is certainly not blind at all. The name probably comes from the fact that this species is very similar to a bee but cannot sting. In addition, the blind man has rows of hair on his eyes, which may have led to the thought that he was blind. Many other hoverflies, like the blind bee, also resemble species such as wasps, bumblebees and bees. This resemblance is called mimicry. Because of this, predators sometimes hesitate to attack, for fear of being stung. The blind bee is common everywhere in the Netherlands.
Wormwort bee
The wormwood bee is found on the higher sandy soils in the East and South of the Netherlands, but also in urban areas (parks and gardens).
The wormwood bee sometimes nests in large groups in the walls of loamy groves, verge embankments or the banks of streams, but also between the roots of a fallen tree. They have strong jaws that allow them to chew out a nest passage even in soft stones. A nest block with 6 mm holes is also attractive.
The female wormwood bee has a broad and short face. The head and sides of the thorax have white-gray hair. The top of the thorax (mesonotum) is yellow-brown. The first segment of the abdomen is long-haired. The end straps are as wide as the edges of the segments.
The males have the same markings as the females, but are slightly smaller and have thicker hair, especially on the face and head shield. The hairs on the abdomen plates are the same length as the chest hairs.
Red hole
The almost glowing, golden shining hair on the tip of the abdomen and the yellow translucent hind shins are the typical field features of the Roodgatje. The female breastpiece has short red hair on top, the underside and face white hair. The abdomen is bare and shiny black with golden yellow hair at the tip.
They nest in all sandy areas: in gardens, parks, meadows or fields.
Males attract females by creating scent spots in certain places.
Honey bee
The honey bee is a social fleece-winged bee, living in populations of up to 80,000 animals. The nest space is in a beehive, with wild and feral bees this is a tree cavity or a hollow wall.
Workers are up to 11-14 mm, the queen is up to 14-20 mm. Body is brown to black, finely dotted and hairy gray to brown. Sometimes the rings of the abdomen are yellow-brown.
