 standard photographs and close-ups: |
|
|---|---|
 macro-photographs: |
|
Click on a thumbnail to see the preview, then click on that for the full-sized image
| Record Summary | nest, dug up by fox |
| Found as | Nest |
| Date | 24 March 2017 |
| OS grid ref | OSGR: SU00 |
| Lat/Lon | 50° 50’ N, 1° 50’ W |
| Vice County | Dorset, VC no: 9 |
| Country | England |
Notes:
The nest was about 25cm deep behind a dry stone retaining wall. The original entrance was through a small gap between the stones in the wall, about 50cm to the right of the nest.
The Fox had excavated a large hole to expose the nest, A few cocoons and pieces of honey store were scattered nearby, with more in the bottom of the nest.
The gardener says the area was intact in late morning when he went past with a leaf-blower. By 1pm the nest had been opened, so it apparently happened about midday. Posdsibly I disturbed it befoe it had finished, but it didn’t return during the afternoon.
The bottom of the hole was lined with moss and several several bees were crawling around. A few more were on the scattered earth and nest remnants. Some bees were still coming and going.
The plan was to return at dusk to catch all the bees, dig out the nest remains, recover what fragments we could and place it all in an Oxford Bee Company bumblebee nestbox which was to be installed on site. In the event there were far too many bees. About 10 were visible in the bottom of the whole when we started. We must have caught about 30 and there were still about 10 visible. We just ran out of containers (even three to a container).
By now it was clear that, although there had been a lot of damage, bees were still coming and going through a small gap at one side of the bottom of the hole and apparently much of the nest had survived. So we created a roof of cut pieces of shed Eucalyptus bark, added a straw layer, some soil and put a couple of flat stones on top. If the Fox returns it’ll easily remove it, but otherwise it should protect the nest from the weather.
We then released the captured bees. With hindsight they were so dozy we could easily have tipped them all into one jar and captured the rest, but it was too late by then.
The nest included at least two queens as well as surviving small workers from the first brood.
The following literature was used to identify this find:
|
standard photographs and close-ups: |
|
|---|---|
|
macro-photographs: |
|
Click on a thumbnail to see the preview, then click on that for the full-sized image
Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material on the BioImages website by Malcolm Storey is licensed under the above Creative Commons Licence.
Photographs from other photographers are used with permission but not included under the above CC licence.