Large bumble

[spurtle]

Yesterday I saw a very large Bumble bee that was a different colouring with more dark brown than black and yellow, could this be a queen or a different type of bee?

[Duncansby]

Yesterday I saw a very large Bumble bee that was a different colouring with more dark brown than black and yellow, could this be a queen or a different type of bee?

It's quite likely to be a different type of bee, there are currently 18 different species in Scotland.

This website (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/bombus/key_british_colour_info.html) might help you identify it: it lets you build up a picture of your bumble bee - you just click on the colour for each part.

Good luck!

[Kenn]

Sounds like a carder bee but without a picture can't be sure.