I have seen two black bees in my garden this year. I've never seen them before but there they were, collecting nectar. Does anyone know about these?
Can't give you an answer but this might help. If not you'll find it a fun read anyway, if you've not been there before. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/bombus/key_british_colour_info.html (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/bombus/key_british_colour_info.html)
There are various kinds of black bees.
We have black mining bees on our allotments, like you I was rather surprised to see them.
There is a rarer type of native black honey bee.
http://www.co-operative.coop/plan-bee/whats-our-plan/native-bees/
I also think we have the black honey bees but I have totally failed to get a good enough photo of them for positive id. They never keep still.
Lucky you, it was probably a black honeybee -
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/apr/18/black-honeybees-rediscovered-in-britain
Thanks for all the info! I think they are honey bees and I will keep an eye out from now on. They are most welcome in my garden.
Honey bee colonies often contain a proportion of all-black bees. The original native honeybee was black, and most of why we see are hybrids, though almost pure stains survive around the country. Then there are various all-black solitary bees; they could have been either.
Thank you Robert. That's very interesting.Ihaven't seen any since so maybe they were solitary bees.