baby bumblebees

[springaling]

I've just noticed some bumblebees in my garden but they seemed to be silver and black rather than gold, is this just because they are young or is it a different type of bee. Its definitly a bumblebee because its living in the ground. Also there was another type of bee flying around and harassing the bumbles, they were similar looking but not quite as fluffy and a bit thinner and smaller, they seemed to be winning the fight, whats this all about

[Kleiber]

Silver and black could be a different type of bee - white tailed bumblebee. The thing you saw flying around could've been a bee-fly, which is a predator on bees. Did it hover?

[springaling]

yes they did hover and every time the bees tried to go towards their nests they would gang up on it