Yes, but far less than in summer. In the mild Southwest, you can find active bumblebees in later months, but this is the exception, not the rule.
Honeybees huddle in the hive and stop foraging below 10 to 13 degrees. Most bumblebees die off in autumn, leaving only mated queens, which hibernate underground, and solitary bees overwinter as larvae or pupae, all cosy, sealed in their nest cells.
But the exception is real, especially in mild coastal and urban conditions in counties like Devon and the increasingly warmer winter months.
* Important * – The syrup in your bee revival kit becomes thicker in colder temperatures, making it hard to get out of the vial. Make sure you warm the vial in your hands first to make the liquid thinner before pouring. No freezing cars!
If you happened to find a hibernating queen indoors, in a log basket, a shed, a compost heap or behind a curtain, just leave it be. Queens have energy stores they can’t waste, and moving them will cause stress.
Buff-tailed bumblebees now work through the British winter
Since the 1990s, buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) have been recorded producing winter-active colonies in Britain. Queens and workers forage from October through to March.
It’s common in towns, cities and coastal areas, where urban warmth combines with ornamental winter-flowering. Winter forage is mostly garden shrubs: mahonia, winter honeysuckle, winter-flowering heather and strawberry tree, plus native white dead-nettle.
Records reach as far north as Edinburgh and Dundee. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust collects winter sightings between 1 November and 1 March.