Common Carder Bee Nest

The Nest of a Queen Common Carder Bumble Bee ~ Bombus Pascuorum. 

This nest was not found on Newington Green itself, but in a nearby garden.

The nest has been made from moss collected from the lawn, looks like half a football and is the shape of a man-made skep, which are sold as ready-made bee homes. The nest is initially made by the queen carder bee and is then kept in shape by worker bees throughout the summer. The bees scratch up and collect the moss and a chain of bees take the moss into the nest. The scratching actions the bees make to do this are similar to the way people comb out wool, or card it, before spinning - hence the name of the carder bee.

So, rather than eliminating all the moss from your lawn, you might like to leave some available as a resource for bees and other species to use. You may also find that in the Spring, wrens blackbirds and other birds will also come down to take some moss to use for nestbuilding.

The English poet John Clare (1793 - 1864), who was passionate about the natural world, refers to these bees and their mossy nests in his poem 'Wild Bees':

   'These children of the sun which summer brings

   As pastoral minstrels in her merry train

   Pipe rustic ballads upon busy wings

   And glad the cotters' quiet toils again.......

...And one that may for wiser piper pass,

   In livery dress half sables and half red,

   Who laps a moss-ball in the meadow grass

   And hoards her stores when April showers have fled...'

Thanks to Dr Gyongyver Julia Kadas for identifying the bee that made the nest.

31 August 2009