Bees nest in the attic?????

[Simon T]

This follows on from my post the other week about having a rodent in the attic, which has since been caught and disposed of.

Anyway, was up there with an old hoover and some cleaning stuff clearing up the mess it made. Moved some cardboard boxes close to where I trapped the blighter and came accross this...

Found a couple of dead bees nearby and there was a honey-like smell coming from this thing, so I'm guessing it was a bees nest of some sort?

More pics..

So, I guess it was the honey in this thing was what the mouse had been eating?

I seem to recall finding a dead bee up near hatch earlier this summer, but don't ever recall any evidence of bees flying about up there?

Is it common for bees to nest in attics?

[whisky-dave]

there are many species of bee 250 in the UK.

A bit like students always congregating in the most annoying places. I know bees have a use, as for students...... ;-)

[Chris Hogg]

It's a bumble bee's nest. I don't know how common it is for them to nest in attics; they seem to have got well and truly tangled up with the insulation, or was that the rodent? At this time of year, it'll almost certainly no longer be active, the worker bees will all have died off and the young queens will have flown away to find somewhere to hibernate until next Spring, when they'll start new nests elsewhere. It's very unlikely that they'll come back next year.

[Simon T]

I'm pretty sure it was the honey from the nest which had seeped into the surrounding insulation. Have removed that section of insulation and replaced with new.

That's a releif!!!

[Chris Hogg]

There's more here

the first section it says "One of the species which nests in bird boxes and lofts is the Tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)."

[Michael Chare]

I do unfortunately get wasps. I think they move each year.

[Tim Streater]

Yes, wasps don't reuse nests. They all die over winter except the queens.

[Cynic]

Doesn't look like a honeybee type construction but suggests a bumblebees nest. Try googling the bumblebee conservation trust for information. High up locations such as a loft might suit a tree bumble colony (bombus hypnorum).