-
Bordeaux-Toulouse rail project: Prefecture bans weekend protests
Environmental protesters say the demonstrations against the high-speed train projects will still take place
-
PHOTO: Driver crosses camel on a road in the west of France
The animal had escaped from a nearby travelling circus and taken a stroll
-
Vulture attacks and injures woman in her garden in France
It is believed to be the first attack of its kind in the country
Nature in France: what are those shiny blue bumble bees?
Have you spotted a huge blue bee buzzing around your garden? We explain what they are what they do.
Question
We have seen lots of what look like shiny bumble bees with blue wings in our acanthus flowers. Are they a new invasive species and are they dangerous?
Answer
They sound like a bee called a carpenter bee, unsurprisingly also known as blue bees. In French, they have various names including abeille charpentière, abeille perce-bois, Bourdon noir or Bourdon bleu. The latin name is Xylocopa, and they are common to France and southern Europe. They are similar in size to bumble bees, but very different, living solitary lives and not in colonies.
Read more: French honey production 'exceptional' in 2020 so far
As their name suggests, they chew out holes in dead or soft wood and live in them, raising their young. The females do have a sting but very rarely sting humans, and when they do it is usually because they are being crushed. Carpenter bees sometimes chew holes in young trees, particularly apple trees, leaving sawdust at the base of the trunk. The damage looks terrible but the trees do not seem to suffer and after a few years the hole has usually recovered.
Read more: our pick of top 3 Jardins Ouverts 2020
Blue bees are often among the first insects to make use of the “insect hotels” some people put up in their gardens, and this might be why more of them are being seen now. While picking acanthus flowers – to make pot-pourri, for example – be careful to check that there are no blue bees sleeping in the middle of a flower, as they sometimes do.
Read more: 10 wildlife excursions to try in France