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Beekeepers and Bumblebees
Beekeepers only deal with Honey bees, not bumble bees as we have no facilities to deal with them. Many species of bees in places such as compost heaps, under decking, in rockeries, under floors using an airbrick as an entrance will be bumble bees.
You can check which species of bumblebee by following these links.
http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/bumblebees_id.htm
http://www.bumblebee.org/key.htm
Bumble bees are not aggressive and if left alone will gladly keep flying to and fro from their nest. They do a lot of good work pollinating.
Once established they cannot be moved and we recommend that the nest be left as it will die out in the Autumn as bumble bees work on an annual cycle. A queen that has over wintered by hibernating finds a suitable nest site in late February/early March. The queen rears the first offspring, which are workers, whose duty is to forage and care for the colony. The queen continues to lay eggs and the colony develops during the year with the bees doing a lot of good pollinating fruit crops etc. New queens are produced in late July/August, these mate with the males or drones and find somewhere to hibernate over the winter and those that survive the winter start the nests the following year. The original nest dies out at the end of the season.
A reference guide is �Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain & Ireland� by M Edwards and M Jenner published by Ocelli.