BUZZING LIKE BUMBLES

Posted: 16.03.26 in Articles category

 

What do you know about bumblebees? I know next to nothing about them, but from late February I have noticed them on sunnier days around our house, particularly the insects bouncing off the lounge window and buzzing loudly as they slowly meander and fly away. Apparently, that buzzing sound gives them their scientific name Bombus which means “booming”.   

There are more than 250 different species of bumblebee worldwide. In the UK today we have 24 species of bumblebee and 8 of these provide more than 95% sightings across these isles. They are known as the ‘big eight’: Common carder, Red-tailed, Early Tree, Garden, Heath, Buff-tailed and White-tailed bumblebees. They can look very similar, and it seems that the main ways of telling them apart is by looking closely at their tail colour and banding pattern. There are 3 main tail colours - white/buff, red/orange and ginger/yellow - which can vary in extent across the bee’s abdomen. 

Bumblebees don’t feature in the Bible. That’s unsurprising as they are insects that originated in the Himalayas and are found, at least these days, in cooler temperate regions like northern Europe. Yet there are several scriptural references to bees in general and they are as follows:

The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah.

Deuteronomy 1 verse 44

 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey.

Judges 14 verse 8

They swarmed around me like bees, but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them down. 

Psalm 118 verse 12

 In that day the Lord will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.  

Isaiah 7 verse 18

These Old Testament verses mention bees making swarms – behaviour that’s associated with honey bees. By contrast, bumblebees don’t swarm and their nesting colonies are typically smaller. Neither do they produce honey…unlike the swarm of bees that Samson found in the lion’s carcass and scooped out the honey with his hands to eat. Honey itself is mentioned repeatedly across the Bible, most notably in association with the Promised Land which is described as “a land flowing with milk and honey” symbolising the abundance of God’s provision. 

While bumblebees are not mentioned in scripture, in the words of the hymn “All things bright and beautiful” they are among the multitude of “creatures great and small”. Moreover, as I am belatedly discovering, they are amazing to watch.