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The Bumble bee is a sociable insect that lives with many others in an organised community underground. Unlike the Honey bee, whose community stores up honey for the winter, only the queen survives and all her workers die. In the following spring she emerges again already fertilised to build another colony.
On the Kinson Common, Bombus pratorum, a smaller species, is the first to emerge from hibernation. It has a red tail and is boldly marked with yellow.
Another familiar sight locally is the largest, Bombus terrestris. The males and workers have white tails and the queen has a very distinctive ginger-coloured tail.
As there are 19 British species of the genus Bombus, it is a good idea to carry a standard insect book to help identify them all.
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