Seven tree bumblebees with wings gilded in 24ct gold leaf. A section of their nest, painstakingly cleaned and reconstructed into a habitat of real bark and lichens. Housed in a restored vintage brass bubble frame. This piece is a one-of-a-kind and will not be repeated or available to commission.

These bumblebees nested in my roof a few years back, and I watched them bumble in and out under the roof tiles all summer. By late autumn they had vacated the nest and the remaining bees had died off. I lifted the roof tiles and collected the nest pieces, along with any little dead bees remaining amongst it.

The tree bumblebee or new garden bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) is a species of bumblebee common in the European continent and parts of Asia. Since the start of the twenty-first century, it has spread to Great Britain. These bumblebees prefer habitats that others do not, allowing them to pollinate flowers in areas that many other species do not get to. Bombus hypnorum has a short proboscis and a rounded head. The thorax is usually of a uniformly ginger colour (but examples with a darker, or even black thorax occur), the abdomen is covered in black hair, and the tail is always white.