‘Mind your feet, there’s a Bumblebee walking around in the grass down there’. I looked down and so she was.
We were giving the garden furniture a much needed lick of paint when my husband noticed the bee. She was struggling through the grass and every so often attempting to fly. Taking a closer look, I noticed the reason for her struggle. She was carrying a large something. A large, white, wriggling something – a Wax Moth larva.
There are two species of wax moth in the UK – the Greater and the Lesser Wax Moths. The Greater Wax Moths predates Bumblebees, the adult creeping into the nest after dark when she is less likely to be noticed and laying her eggs. When these develop into larvae they feed on the wax construction of the nest itself, as well as pollen and other nest debris and the developing bee larvae. This activity starves the bumblebee nest of valuable resources, and often hastens the decline of the nest.
The Wax Moth larvae usually stay safely entwined within a network of rubbery, silken fibres that they weave around the nest. This serves to help them evade detection by the bumblebees and also protect them as the bumblebees can’t penetrate it. All in all, they are a very unwelcome guest and I can completely understand the bumblebee’s determination to get this one as far away from the nest as possible. I’m just sad to say that I think that this one came from my garden nest in the garage wall that I have been watching through the season. I thought that the nest had been declining in activity lately and this might be why.
The larva was clearly heavy, as the bee managed to lift off briefly a few times before plunging back down to earth. Pictured from the side you can see how large the larvae are compared to the bees – imagine picking up a thin, heavy weight that matches your length. Oh, and for added difficulty it is wriggling all the time in an attempt to escape. I managed to take a short video on my phone which shows how much effort the bee was expending.
Half way across the lawn the bee clearly decided that she was far enough away from the nest that the larva wouldn’t be able to make it’s way back, and unceremoniously dumped it on the ground. Where it was promptly grabbed and eaten by a baby Blackbird. The circle of life in full effect!
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