[oor wullie]

Now that the sun is out I'm starting to see some bumblebees about the Croft however they nearly all seem to be struggling with huge infestations of mites.  I've found 1 dead and a few pretty close to dead absolutely covered with some sort of mites.
Is this normal (I've never noticed it before) or are we suffering some sort of plague of mites?

We hardly ever see honey bees so I do hope the bumblebees aren't going to be wiped out.

[Fleecewife]

I think it's normal for bumbles to carry a mite or two, but it's excessive when they are weighed down by them, and dying, presumably of blood loss.  I have wondered if we should try to catch any we find which are infested, and try to treat them.  It might be worth contacting the British Bumblebee Trust or similar organisation for advice.  There are more than enough challenges for bumbles to face, without adding mites.  With honey bees you can treat the whole hive, but wild bee nests are small, and hard to find. Bumbles pollinate far more efficiently than honey bees, so the loss of just a few bumbles is the equivalent of many more honey bees.


Modified - Disregard all the above - I just did a search and the first thing I found was some good news:


The good news is that most of the mite species that live with bumblebees are fairly harmless to them and are simply clinging to the bumblebee so that they can be transported to new nests. When in the nest, the mites usually feed upon the wax, pollen, nest debris, and other small insects, so do not feed on the bees.



Bumblebee mites - Bumblebee Conservation Trust

https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bee-faqs/bumblebee-mites/


That's alright then    vegetarian mites 

[Penninehillbilly]

But it does say further down that they can be too heavily infested and weighed down, so mites can be brushed off with a child's paint brush.
I've only seen the odd few mites on, but I'll take more notice now