{"id":4370,"date":"2025-08-01T10:37:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=4370"},"modified":"2025-08-01T10:37:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:37:44","slug":"august-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=4370","title":{"rendered":"August bees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1772\" height=\"1382\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/muchlargeraugustbees.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4373\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/muchlargeraugustbees.jpg 1772w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/muchlargeraugustbees-300x234.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/muchlargeraugustbees-768x599.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/muchlargeraugustbees-1536x1198.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/muchlargeraugustbees-624x487.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1772px) 100vw, 1772px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The late summer flying bees vary hugely in size, colour and shape, from the round, fluffy bumblebees to the medium-sized, striped\u00a0<strong>plasterer bee<\/strong>, parasitic\u00a0<strong>blood bee<\/strong>\u00a0with a red abdomen, the\u00a0<strong>mining bee\u00a0<\/strong>with yellow legs and the\u00a0<strong>pantaloon bee\u00a0<\/strong>with massive pollen brushes on its hind legs . \u00a0And the tiny black\u00a0<strong>Yellow-face bees<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Small scissor bees\u00a0<\/strong>are still around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may also notice that some of the bumblebees just got a lot larger again, like the size they were in the spring. That\u2019s because a new generations of\u00a0<strong>queen bumblebees<\/strong>\u00a0are flying. If there are new queens, there will be male bumblebees too. The males have yellow, fluffy faces. Males and these new, virgin queens from nearby nests will mate and then she will be looking for somewhere safe to hunker down for the next few months until next spring when they will emerge to make a new nest and create their own colony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tips for IDing August bumblebees:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00a0<strong>Early bumblebees<\/strong>\u00a0<em>(Bombus pratorum)\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 so called because the colony produces new queen bees as early as May when other bumblebees colonies are still busy producing workers. This month a second generation of queens (13mm) could be flying along with smaller (10mm) workers and the pretty males, which have a more fluffy, yellow thorax. Don\u2019t confuse these small males with the larger males of red-tailed bumblebees. The latter has a much bigger, fire-engine red bottom and is larger in size too. The easiest way to tell this bumblebee from all the others is by their diminutive size and their little orangey-red bottom.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>White-tailed bumblebee<\/strong> (<em>Bombus lucorum<\/em>) males &#8211; if you&#8217;re lucky you may see these bright yellow banded fluffy bumblebees flying now. They are easy to distinguish from queens and workers by their much yellower thorax. At the end of the summer bumblebee queens produce males and new queens who will leave the nest and mate. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You will also see small, gingery-brown <a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=4338\">Common carder bees<\/a> (<em>Bombus pascuorum<\/em>) in parks and gardens this month. And if you are lucky, \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=3184\">Red-tailed bumblebees<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=3096\">\u00a0Tree bumblebees<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=3184\">Garden bumblebees\u00a0<\/a>. All the castes could be out \u2013 the large queens, and smaller workers and the yellow-face males. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And a new generation of cuckoo bumblebees may also be flying, such as the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumblebeeconservation.org\/ginger-yellow-bumblebees\/field-cuckoo-bumblebee\/\">Field cuckoo bee<\/a>\u00a0<em>(Bombus campestris<\/em>), which lays its eggs in Common carder bees\u2019 nests. Here\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumblebeeconservation.org\/publications\/a-guide-to-the-six-cuckoo-bumblebees\/\">guide to the six cuckoo bumblebees in the UK<\/a>.<strong>\u00a0ID tip:<\/strong>\u00a0They have darker wings than nest-making bumblebees and no pollen baskets because their host\u2019s worker bees collect the pollen to feed the cuckoo bees\u2019 females and males.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to ID August solitary bees:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Blood bees (<\/strong><em>Sphecodes)\u00a0<\/em>can often be found where Furrow bees and some mining bees are nesting as they invade their nests.\u00a0<em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>There are several hundred species of these parasitic bees globally and around 17 in the British Isles. They range in size from 4mm to 8mm, but can be identified from other black, hairless bees by their red abdomen which looks as if it is full of blood. Telling one blood bee species from another can be very challenging, despite possessing some of the best descriptive common names such as swollen-thighed, bare-saddled and dull-headed blood bee. If you see one on heathland or coastal dunes, chances are it could be the Sandpit blood bee (<em>Sphecodes<\/em>\u00a0<em>pellucidus<\/em>) .<strong> What do parasitic bees do?<\/strong> They are cleptoparasites, which means the female enters a host\u2019s nest, opens up a cell and destroys the egg, or larvae, and replaces it with her own egg before resealing it. Females are usually found around the nests of the host, while males often hang out on a variety of daisy-like flowers and umbellifers.\u00a0<strong>Tip:\u00a0<\/strong>Don\u2019t kill these bees to save the furrow and mining bees. Nature works in mysterious ways and we must respect that.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Small scissor bees<\/strong>\u00a0(<em>Chelostoma campanularum<\/em>) &#8211; despite being the UK&#8217;s smaller bee they were easy to spot because the 4.5mm-long males shelter in the middle of bellflowers (<em>Campanula<\/em> in Latin) during dull weather and\/or at night. Now most of the bellflowers have gone, look in Hardy geraniums like Geranium &#8216;Rozanne&#8217; instead. A cavity nesting bee, they use small pre-existing holes in dead wood, including fence posts, and they plug the holes with small particles including sand grains and grit, like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=3331\">Resin bees<\/a>. \u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Yellow-face bees<\/strong>\u00a0(<em>Hylaeus<\/em>) are one of many small, (5mm) predominately black bees which frequent gardens from mid to late summer. Yellow-face bees have tiny yellow spots (female) or a triangle (male) on their face, and yellow on their legs. They nest in a variety of small cavities including hollow stems and manmade bee hotels \u00a0if the dimensions are small enough. They line the cells of their nest with waterproof, anti-fungal resin applied with their tongue, which explains why Yellow-face bees are classified in the same family as Plasterer bees (<em>Colletes<\/em>). <strong>\u00a0ID Tip:<\/strong> You won\u2019t see pollen on their hind legs or under their tummy, because, unusually for a bee, they carry pollen back to the nest in a special stomach, called a crop and regurgitate it to make a semi-liquid mixed with nectar to feed their brood (larvae).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Yellow-legged mining bee<\/strong>\u00a0(<em>Andrena flavipes<\/em>) \u2013 are bivoltine, which means they have two generations a year. The first appears in spring and flies from March to June, and a second one from June to September, so you are seeing the second generation now. They are common in southern England and could be mistaken for honeybees, but are a bit smaller, a bit hairier, and more grey coloured. And they have pollen brushes (scopa) along their yellow back legs to collect pollen, rather than scraping blobs of pollen into pollen baskets which honeybees do. They nest in large aggregations in south-facing slopes and short turf including mown lawns.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Four-banded flower bee<\/strong>&nbsp;(<em>Anthophora quadrimaculata<\/em>) \u2013 these small zippy banded bees with big eyes (the males are green-eyed) are fading to grey now. Look out for them darting rapidly between flowers on catmints, lavenders, Black horehound and dead-nettles, emitting a high-pitched buzz. You have most chance of spotting this bee in Greater London and the Thames Gateway than anywhere else in the UK.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pantaloon bee<\/strong>\u00a0<em>(Dasypoda hirtipes)<\/em>\u00a0is a medium-sized fluffy bee easily identified by the female&#8217;s oversized orange pollen brushes, or \u2018pantaloons\u2019 on her hind legs, and her nesting behaviour. She excavates a burrow in sandy banks, coastal footpaths, and even on brownfield sites and leaves a large fan of sandy spoil to one side of the hole. Most likely to be seen in heathland and coastal sand dunes of south east England, Dorset, Cornwall, Norfolk and Wales. It\u2019s one of my favourite holiday pastimes, if I&#8217;m on a beach to try to spot the spoil and then waiting to see the bee in action.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Davies\u2019 plasterer bee\u00a0<\/strong><em>(Colletes daviesanus)<\/em>\u00a0is smaller than a  honeybee with a furry thorax and a shiny abdomen with very defined grey-white stripes. There are 500 known species of plasterers \u2013 also called Colletes bees \u2013 \u00a0worldwide, but only nine species in Britain. This is the main one you\u2019ll see in your garden on any daisy-like flower and nesting in weathered sandstone walls, soft mortar or in south-facing slopes of bare soil in large aggregations with other bees of the same species. \u00a0They are called plasterer bees because they plaster the cells of the nests with a cellophane-like resin substance they produce which is both waterproof and fungus-resistant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You may also still see&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=4041\">leafcutter bees&nbsp;<\/a>and small, black&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=4041\">furrow bees<\/a>&nbsp;foraging in parks and gardens throughout the UK at this time of year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to help bees in August:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"1\">\n<li>Plant\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/plants\/plants.htm#aug\">different flowers for different bees.<\/a>\u00a0Hollyhocks, sunflowers, globe thistles and cardoons are all magnets at this time of year for\u00a0<strong>short-tongued bees<\/strong>, along with open-faced dahlias. For the\u00a0<strong>long-tongued bumblebees<\/strong>, Black horehound, Salvias, Germanders (Tuecrium) and buddleia are still flowering. And <em>Geranium<\/em> &#8216;Rozanne&#8217; and Calamint are still going strong. Common sneezeweed<em>\u00a0(Helenium autumnale)\u00a0<\/em>is starting to produce coppery blooms which are a top attraction for solitary bees according to Rosybee nursery\u2019s fantastically helpful\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rosybee.com\/research\">research\u00a0<\/a>. Marjoram (<em>Origanum<\/em>), Anise hyssop, thyme and Bergamot, are all later-flowering herbs that do well in pots in a sunny position.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you only have a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/2017\/jun\/17\/plant-tiny-spaces-bees-butterflies-pollinators\"><strong>window box<\/strong><\/a>, Mexican fleabane&nbsp;<em>(Erigeron karvinskianus)<\/em>, creeping thyme (<em>Thymus serpyllum<\/em>), trailing nasturtium and Bird\u2019s-foot trefoil are still flowering. Add sedum for late flowers and annuals such as cosmos and snap dragons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you let your lawn grow into a wildflower meadow this year, now is a good time to do what\u2019s called the \u2018<strong>haycut<\/strong>\u2019. Cut to 4cm with a mower, or better still use a scythe or shears. Leave the cuttings for a few days to let seeds drop to the surface of the soil, then rake the cuttings up to reduce soil fertility and encourage more wildflowers next year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gather seeds<\/strong>&nbsp;from plants such as poppies, love-in-a-mist, bellflowers and foxgloves. Store them in labelled paper bags in a cool, dry place for sowing or scattering next spring. Or, just scatter them around your garden now and hope for the best.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Leave parts of the garden undisturbed<\/strong>, as a new generation of ground-nesting bumblebee queens may be looking for a snug place to spend the winter.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ditch the weed killers and pesticides.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&nbsp;You can put up&nbsp;<strong>bee hotels<\/strong>&nbsp;now, but you probably won\u2019t get any visitors until next spring.  If you want to see what is happening inside a bee hotel, you could invest in an&nbsp;<strong>observation box<\/strong>&nbsp;with a Perspex viewing window. But again, wait until next spring to put it up.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It\u2019s still not too late to&nbsp;<strong>drill holes in&nbsp;blocks of wood<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 10mm, 8mm, 6mm and 4mm diameters and up to 30 cm deep (although some bees only need a depth of a few centimetres to nest in) \u2013 and screw them to a sturdy support.&nbsp;Drill tiny holes&nbsp;in existing structures such as fence posts, or dead trees. Small scissor bees, yellow-face bees or&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=3331\">resin bees<\/a>&nbsp;may take up residence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Create a&nbsp;<strong>bank of sand<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>mixed with some clay soil<\/strong>&nbsp;against a south facing wall for mining bees which like to burrow into sand. Create steps in the sand as some bees like to nest vertically and others horizontally. The clay will help the bank to keeps its shape after the bees have tunnelled into it<strong>.<\/strong>&nbsp;You may find&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?m=202209\"><strong>Ivy bees<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/a>(<em>Colletes hederae<\/em>) nesting in it next month.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provide a&nbsp;<strong>source of water<\/strong>&nbsp;for thirsty honeybees. This can be a shallow bowl or saucer with stones or pebbles in that the bees can stand on while they are drinking. Bees can\u2019t swim!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The late summer flying bees vary hugely in size, colour and shape, from the round, fluffy bumblebees to the medium-sized, striped\u00a0plasterer bee, parasitic\u00a0blood bee\u00a0with a red abdomen, the\u00a0mining bee\u00a0with yellow legs and the\u00a0pantaloon bee\u00a0with massive pollen brushes on its hind legs . \u00a0And the tiny black\u00a0Yellow-face bees\u00a0and\u00a0Small scissor bees\u00a0are still around. You may also notice [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4370"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4628,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370\/revisions\/4628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}