I wonder if they stowed away in trucks

After an exciting few days of trips and blipmeets it was back to the real world . . .  and cleaning. We're having some new chairs and sofa delivered tomorrow and I really had to make sure the room was fit for them to be in.

I went out for a while chasing bees, but it was quite windy and they just won't keep still. I was intrigued by this one. Then, using my new identification guide** (which I would recommend to anyone like me who doesn't know one bee from another and wants to know), I found it is a Tree Bumblebee.
 
Unmistakeable from the ginger, black and white colours (seen better on the extra rather blurred in-flight picture), this arrived from France a decade ago and is spreading rapidly north west. Apparently it is a great pollinator, so is supporting our plant populations at a time when some of native bumblebees are declining. It doesn't seem to be harming our native species, but this is being closely monitored.
 
**Field identification guide to the UK's bumblebees - Bumblebee Conservation Trust - bumblebeeconservation.org