I am not usually vague when it comes to naming the species on my blog but this Bumble Bee is not one that I normally encounter. It was in a wood by the River and engaging in a serious grooming session. A large bee, it was longer than those I usually see, tHe White Tailed Bumble Bee for example. I am sure it is not a rare bee but I do need to put a proper name to so that it can be listed correctly. Can you help? I am waiting for reaction from the web site Wild About Britain and I am pretty confidant that I will be able to put a name to it by the end of the day. 

So it's not quite the end of the day and I am glad to be able to name our Bumble Bee! It is in fact a Cuckoo Bumble Bee Bombous Vestalis. Here is a quote about the species:
"Various species of cuckoo bumblebees are in existence and quite often they are the spitting image of their hosts! They are also known as parasitic bumblebees. The Vestal Cuckoo Bumblebee below is a parasite to the Earth Bumblebee, to which it bears a remarkable resemblance. Cuckoo bumblebees do not know workers or queens, just females, all capable of laying eggs and uncapable of doing any work. The females of the Vestal Cuckoo Bumblebee are about the same size as the queens of the Earth Bumblebee. Males usually are 15 to 17 mm long and may reach a wingspan of 35 mm. Because they never care about their off spring the females of all cuckoo bumblebees lack the special pollencollecting hairs on their legs. All non-parasitic bumblebees have these 'baskets' as these bushes of hairs are called and use them to transport pollen to the nest. So cuckoo bumblebees not only cheat on their relatives, they fool plants as well. Lacking the baskets they are not very contributive in the pollination proces. The Vestal Cuckoo Bumblebee is not very common in gardens, even though it may be seen in greater numbers in some years, while being absent in others."