I want to remove a bumblebee nest - how should I do it?

I am seeing dead bees in my garden - is this normal?

How do I provide nesting sites for bumblebees?

You're very lucky if you have found a bumblebee nest - many people have them in their gardens, but not many people ever come to realise it!

Bumblebees thankfully are not at all aggressive and only rarely sting when handled roughly. They might get aggravated if you started to interfere with the nest itself, but not if you're just passing by. They don't swarm and certainly don't 'attack' like wasps or honey bees. They should just get on with it and do their own thing - doing a wonderful job of pollinating plants, wildflowers and your vegetables. Even the very largest nests produce very little "traffic" in and out, so you won't see threatening numbers of bees at any point during the summer.

The colony only lasts one summer - it will have finished by September/October at the latest - (quite possibly much earlier) and all of the bees will have gone. It's possible (although not particularly likely) that a different bumblebee queen will find and use the same hole next year.

If the bees are living under your shed, and are coming up through holes in the floor, then this is probably because it's the easiest way in and out for them. If you make a different hole, from the outside of the shed, and then block up the hole they were using, then they should happily take to their new route.

As mentioned above, bumblebees are not at all aggressive, seldom sting, and are very easy to live with. We very much hope that people will only try to move nests that are in a particularly inconvenient location. Underground nests will be more difficult to move, as you'll create a considerable amount of disturbance as you dig down to the nest. However, if it's outside and underground then there should be no reason to move it....

To move a nest safely it's best to do it in the dark - when all of the bees will be 'asleep'. They might buzz a bit... but they wont fly in the dark, so you can do it reasonably safely.

The ideal for the bees would be to find a shoe box, or something similar - perhaps larger for a particularly big nest. Put dry grass or dry moss in the bottom of the box to rest the nest in. Make a 2cm hole in the side, and cover it with selotape of some kind of bung. Then pick up the nest at night (either wearing long-sleeves and gardening gloves, or perhaps using a spade), pop it in the box, and shut the lid. Try to keep the nest upright, otherwise their honey pots will spill. Put the nest somewhere sheltered, and put a board or something waterproof over the top to keep the rain out. It's also best to avoid direct sunlight if you can.

Once you've moved them, and the bees have settled down, just remove the selotape/bung. The bees might take a little while to adjust, but they should take to their new home pretty well.