Bombus hortorum is rather similar in colouring to B. terrestris and B. lucorum workers. The main, and easiest to spot, difference is that B. hortorum has two bands of yellow hairs on its thorax. This can be seen on the bee on the left. B. hortorum has the longest tongue of any bumblebee in the UK, it is usually around 1.5 cm long, but some bees can stretch to over 2 cm. This means that it can forage on flowers that have deep corollas that would keep out other bees. You will hardly ever see it on open or daisy type flowers unless it is gathering pollen.

On the left is a male who has spent the night in this flower. When I came across him it was early morning and he was cold and could barely move. He would soon return to normal once he drank some nectar and allowed the sun to warm him up.

On the right you can see a close-up of the head of the queen above. B. hortorum have a longer head than other species, and this combined with their long tongues enables them to forage from flowers other bees cannot reach. In this photograph the compound eye can be clearly seen as can one of the ocelli.

In the photograph on the left the bee is on a dandelion, this is because I put her there. B. Hortorum prefers flowers such as red clover, cowslips, foxglove, vetches and lavender. The workers and males are just slightly smaller than the queen.

The photograph on the right was taken just below the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It shows a rather ragged hortorum worker. Her thorax has a large bald patch on which the light is shining. I have noticed that hortorum tend to have more balding workers than other species. This may be because they specialize in the more complicated flowers, often disappearing entirely within the flower, and rubbing their back against the flower. Or it may be that they rub against things more when entering their nest. Or perhaps they are just prone to premature baldness!

Their colonies are fairly small, and along with pratorum they have a reputation for nesting in "unsuitable" places such as coat pockets, buckets and inside lawnmowers, their preferred nest sites are usually on or just below ground. They are fairly placid bees and do not have large nests, so if it is possible, it is best to leave them where they are. If you must move the nest, for example, if it is inside a lawnmower, then do so late in the evening when all the bees have returned. Get as much of the nest material as you can into a small box with an entrance hole of about 1 cm and leave it inside as close to the original spot as possible. If it is inside a shed or building then any kind of container will do. If it has to be moved outdoors then the container must be weatherproof and placed in a south-facing sheltered spot. The cuckoo species of B. hortorum is B. barbutellis.

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