Bees In My Compost BinI have just been to take some compost from the bottom of my plastic compost bin

can you take a photo of them? Then we hopefully can identify which bee it is.
tree bumbles will settle in compost bins/ nest boxes etc and they will move on late summer.

Thanks, Seaburngirl. I can try but think they may be back inside the bin now and I am not sure I want to remove the hatch again as it was a bit tricky getting it back on with the bees around me.

The bin does sit under a very large conifer.

Fret not, bumble bees rarely sting and if they do it is not as painful as a honey bee sting. They are very placid. Such a shortage of them, please do not do anything nasty to them.

Owdboggy, I really don't want to do anything to them at all. It does give me a problem, but I would rather know the extent of my problem.

I did go back to try and get a photo but had no success. I can hear a lot of buzzing inside the bin so don't want to remove the hatch as I know there will be a lot coming out.

I will try again tomorrow for a pic.

We had a nest of them in the space between the ceiling and the roof in our last house. They used to make a fair old noise when one banged on the ceiling. There was a constant drone when it was hot as they fanned their wings to control the temperature. They went by mid-summer.

Well you are lucky in a way apart from not having access to the compost. I have a row of broad beans in full flower and only seen one bee on them.

We are not too bad with bees here, normally. I suppose we are lucky. We have fields close to the house and I suppose that helps. But the garden has some wild areas so they seem to hide in there too.

I think you are blessed to have a colony of bumbles. I didn't realise they behaved in that way. As often happens, we learn so much as members of this site. Unfortunate that your lovely compost can't be used just yet, but what a compensation.

I just wish I had been blessed with the colony somewhere else, Merlinbabydog.

I have added a couple of photos. Not good but these little bees don't really pose for a pic!

We had a small amount of these little bees which took over a nest box, but moved on - perhaps to a grander home or just dispersed as they do.
Best of luck with them, just think yourself lucky that they considered your bin to be of sufficient quality to live in!

Well that's a very positive way to think of it, Honeysuckle!

they do look like tree bumbles and as said they will disperse later in the year.

Thanks, Seaburngirl.