Two records for a new bee species, not previously seen so far west in Wales, have been reported recently.

The Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) was first spotted in the New Forest in 2001, having crossed from France. It rapidly spread northwards across Britain but the furthest west it has been recorded is Cardiff. Its arrival may be a natural expansion of its range due to climate change.

It is a distinctive bumblebee with a brown thorax, black abdomen and white tail – no other bumblebee looks like this. It naturally nests in tree holes but will happily nest in bird boxes, building their nests in the bird’s nest.

The first report came from a training day on bumblebees at the National Botanic Gardens run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust where the bee was spotted feeding on some geraniums.

Soon afterwards this new species was spotted by the British Trust for Ornithology’s county representative, John Lloyd. John was checking next boxes in Cynghordy and after having read about the bee on the BTO's nest recorder's forum, realised that the nest box invader was something special.

The arrival of tree bumblebee is good news as most of Britain’s 24 native bumblebee species are in decline, largely due to the intensification of farming.