Bombus monticola
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Bombus monticola, the bilberry bumblebee, blaeberry bumblebee or mountain bumblebee, is a species of bumblebee found in Europe. The bilberry bumblebee is rather small and compact, with a broad head and a short tongue. The queens have an average length of 16 mm (0.63 in), and a wingspan of 32 mm (1.3 in). The corresponding lengths of the other castes are 12 mm (0.47 in) (worker) and 14 mm (0.55 in) (male). In the nominate subspecies, the thorax is black, with the exception of a yellow collar (quite broad on the males) and on the edge of the scutellum. The first, and the frontal part of the second terga (abdominal segments) are black, as is the final tergite, but the rest of the abdomen is yellow to red.
The bumblebee is normally a highland species, often found on bilberry, cranberry, and cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea). It is a pollen storer; it actively feeds the larvae from a central pollen storage, rather than providing each larval cell with its own pollen container. It nests underground in the abandoned nesting burrows of small mammals, the relatively small nests frequently house less than 50 workers and their life cycle is 3–4 months. In Great... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 3 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 5 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Bumble Bee sighting in Snowdonia National Park on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 161st most-seen of the 387 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Bumble Bee in Snowdonia National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July and September–March, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mountain 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.
3rd of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Mountain Bumble Bee sightings, Snowdonia National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Cairngorms National Park (United Kingdom, about 30%) and Hohe Tauern National Park (Austria, about 20%).
Same genus: Bombus
The closest relatives of the Mountain Bumble Bee that you can see in Snowdonia National Park (genus Bombus, Bumble Bees) are Common Carder Bumble Bee (about 20%), Red-Tailed Bumble Bee (about 20%) and Buff-Tailed Bumble Bee (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mountain Bumble Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Snowdonia National Park (15 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.
