Bombus lucorum
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Bombus lucorum, the white-tailed bumblebee, is a species of bumblebee, widespread and common throughout Europe. This name has been widely used for a range of nearly identical-looking or cryptic species of bumblebees. In 1983, Scholl and Obrecht even coined the term Bombus lucorum complex to explain the three taxa (B. lucorum, Bombus magnus, and Bombus cryptarum) that cannot be easily differentiated from one another by their appearances. A recent review of all of these species worldwide has helped to clarify its distribution in Europe and northern Asia, almost to the Pacific. B. lucorum reaches the Barents Sea in the North. However, in southern Europe, although found in Greece it is an upland species with its distribution never quite reaching the Mediterranean.
Compared to other bumblebee species, the individuals of B. lucorum have shorter tongues, and this characteristic enable them to rob nectar. The worker bee uses the horny sheath around its tongue to make a hole through the flower, reaching the nectar without entering the flower. Therefore, the worker bee does not come in contact with the pollen while getting the nectar.
Bombus lucorum is part of the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vatnajokull National Park | 🇮🇸 Iceland | |
| 2 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 3 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 5 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 8 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-Tailed Bumble Bee sighting in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 189th most-seen of the 300 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a White-Tailed Bumble Bee in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and October–March, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-Tailed Bumble Bee sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 9 parks where we can rate White-Tailed Bumble Bee sightings, Cairngorms National Park ranks 7th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Vatnajokull National Park (Iceland, about 10%), Tatra National Park (Slovakia, about 10%) and Bavarian Forest National Park (Germany, about 10%).
Same genus: Bombus
The closest relatives of the White-Tailed Bumble Bee that you can see in Cairngorms National Park (genus Bombus, Bumble Bees) are Mountain Bumble Bee (about 30%), Common Carder Bumble Bee (about 20%) and Early Bumble Bee (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-Tailed Bumble Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Cairngorms National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
