I went out into the garden at 8.30pm and it was getting quite dark, I noticed that there were a couple of Bees on the Sunflowers a B terrestris and a B Pascorum the Buff tailed still feeding and the Carder all tucked up for the night. The light is on in the garden at the moment and I can still see them and it’s 10.30pm and the Buff tailed is still feeding.

I’ve got a half decent photo of the Carder…........................Is it a female and shouldn’t it be tucked up in the nest by now? I thought it was only males who lived rough

     

I took this photo at 11.00pm of the Buff tailed on his sunflowers

Got up at 6.00 this morning and both Bees are feeding away quite happily on their respective flowers it’s now 7.30 and the buff tailed has now gone…..............

I have to say these Sunflowers have been value for money

     

Hello Paula

thank you for reporting your wonderful observations.
You have painted a really cute picture of bumblebees snuggling down on a sunflower for the night.
The males are more likely to sleep rough and the Buff-tailed is definitely a male as it has very ginger hairs on the back leg.
I suspect the common carder is a male too but I find this species quite tricky to tell castes apart.

thank you, elaine