CLOSED: Is this bumble bee thinking of making its nest..

in my little garden shed ?
Since about three days I observed that this bumblebee shows much interest in a corner in my garden shed where I have piled some dried mosses. several times I saw it going inside it staying for a very long time, leaving me guessing what it was doing in there..
I know the picture is too bad for a proper identification but it has a lot of resemblance with Bombus hypnorum. The black under the abdomen is created by the shadow as the camera used the flash, didn't have the time for proper settings..

Now, my main question is not necessarily an ID but if it wants to make its nest in there, I like to respect it and would like to know how long it plans to keep it in there?..

I think it's Bombus pratorum (should have been B. pascuorum, mind muddled here!). It may be nesting there, but they usually nest in the ground. I found a site which says they nest in grass tussocks so it is a possibility. Otherwise it might just be taking a rest amongst the moss, as they do shelter in such places over winter.

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/eakringbirds2/insectsbumblebees.htm

Garden Safari suggests it might make nests in buildings.

http://www.gardensafari.net/english/picpages/bombus_pascuorum.htm

http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:tpnuDw7mAlMJ:www.nwt.org.uk/files/uploaded/Wildlife%2520Gardening%2520Bumblebees.pdf+bombus+pratorum+nest&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=uk

It seems nests are active from April to September.

http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:BSxnmpWUr8MJ:www.age-net.co.uk/Gardening/PDF%2520files/savegardenbumblesweb.pdf+bombus+pratorum+nest&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=uk











This message was edited Nov 26, 2008 1:30 PM

Thank you so much,wallaby! That was verry interesting information on these sites!
It is amazing how you succeeded to ID it from such a bad picture!

I saw it again today and got a couple of better pictures;

coming out...

It's the only one really with that bright orange top, and B. pratorum will always have some black hairs on the abdomen to distinguish it from less common similar ones.

If it keeps coming back it does look like it has that site in mind for a nest!

Now it's for sure there is a nest in there as I saw more than one coming out some days ago and every single day I see one going in or out.

But now since yesterday in the early afternoon until now (I just checked) the same one (I think) is staying on the same flower all that time, it is alive as I see it moving once in while, but it's not feeding, it looks like it is sleepy or drowsy with slow movements and mostly just immobile. I wonder if it is sick ...? It even got wet this afternoon with all the rain, poor thing! I fixed the flower in a way that its protected from any further rain.

Most of the time it stays like this on the flower (Cosmos bipinnatus)

But here it looks like its drowsy..

and this was taken last night with the flash..

The Queen will die but new ones will emerge, usually in August I think. The Queens will overwinter but the rest will die too when the colder weather sets in for winter, not a good life! The cold won't be helping now either.

Thanks! at least it had a poetical death in the heart of a flower.