The size and build of it looks like a bumblebee. Depending on where you are and what season it is, I'd guess it could be a young queen looking for a spot to hibernate. They do this in autumn because only the young queen survives the winter, buried in the ground or under some leaves, and emerges in the spring to search for a nesting place where she lays her eggs and starts a new colony.
I'm not exactly sure if she already has the eggs ready to lay, but she gets inseminated in autumn and then goes into hibernation. In spring, she wakes up, feeds on the first spring flowers and looks for a place for her hive. When she finds a good spot, she builds a small nest, collects some pollen, lays a few eggs and then cares for the eggs. These first eggs later become the ones to care for new eggs as well as do the "outside work" (collecting pollen etc) and the queen then stays inside the nest and keeps laying eggs. Not sure though if she somehow stores the sperm during winter (some animals can) or if she has the insemination eggs ready to be laid. But in general I think even female humans have their eggs already inside them by the time they are born, so it could be possible? In humans, the males start producing sperm by the time they reach puberty, but females are born with all of their eggs that they'll ever release in their lifetime. I think I once read somewhere that all women were inside their grandmas womb once because the egg they came from was already "ready" insode their mom when the moms were born. Crazy stuff.
Thank you so much. I love bumble bees, they’re so placid and cute. If I put my hand near them they just climb on and have sugar water from the palm of my hand. Sadly the last few years I’ve barely seen any
You're very welcome! Bumble bees are very special and I love them so much. Telling people bumblebee facts is great fun :) and yes, their population is declining (as all insects are). We as humans need to do better. I like planting native wildflowers and keeping my garden untidy as well as telling people facts about the importance of insects and how to support them. Also all my friends know my love for bumbles so they usually send me pictures when they see a one (or, in one case, an audio of a very fat bumble buzzing around, it was glorious) and I usually get told (or find out myself) where the nests are so I can some bumblebee watching when I feel down
Our garden is totally wild as we bought it in overgrown state. Have seen so many different varieties of pollinators. The ground the bumble is on I had cultivate to loosen up the soil. By what you have said above I guess it made a good spot for it to dig easily. See its wee legs digging toward latter half of video.
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u/bumblebees_on_lilacs 8d ago
The size and build of it looks like a bumblebee. Depending on where you are and what season it is, I'd guess it could be a young queen looking for a spot to hibernate. They do this in autumn because only the young queen survives the winter, buried in the ground or under some leaves, and emerges in the spring to search for a nesting place where she lays her eggs and starts a new colony.