A routine garden task turned into a buzzing surprise for one Hampshire resident when a hedgehog house proved to be occupied by a colony of tree bumblebees (Bombus hypnorum). The incident occurred in Langstone, where the homeowner had been monitoring a new hedgehog visitor.
Hedgehog House Becomes Bee Home
Last summer, all the visiting hedgehogs in the garden fell victim to road traffic, leaving the hedgehog house beneath a purple-leaved elder empty over winter. Then, a few weeks ago, fresh faeces on the patio—glistening with undigested insect exoskeleton—signalled a new prickly visitor. Camera trapping revealed a rotund adult hedgehog with a distinctive arrowhead-shaped mark on its rump.
After checking nocturnal video recordings to ensure the house was unoccupied, the homeowner decided to clean it out and leave fresh bedding. Upon lifting the lid, they prodded the old hibernaculum—a sphere of barley straw and dried leaves—with a bamboo cane.
Defensive Buzz and Hiss
Instead of a hedgehog, the prodding triggered a sudden burst of radio static-like noise, which intensified into a snake-like hiss. Seconds later, a squadron of gingery tree bumblebees erupted from the box. According to the homeowner, tree bumblebees are renowned for aggressively defending their nests, but this reputation proved exaggerated. While several bees hovered around their head and bumped against bare arms, only one pursued them across the lawn, and they escaped unstung.
The hissing sound, produced by workers vibrating their flight muscles without taking off, includes strong ultrasonic signals to repel nest-raiding mice seeking protein-rich bee brood. This defence mechanism is triggered by vibrations and carbon dioxide in mammalian breath, making the homeowner's presence seem threatening to the bees.
