PLease can anyone help?

[Lyndap]

Can anyone please offer me some advice?Last year we had Bees under our paving slabs not far from our back door.I'm not sure what sort of bees these are? They are quite small ,not brightly coloured,quite dark.Some crawl around on the floor and we have found a few dead ones.They seem really slow and very unaggressive and they dont appear to buzz! (i have removed a few out of the house and i just used a tissue and they just let me,no buzzing,then just flew off).The dog is fascinated by them,and i have been worried about that,but they dont seem to be bothered by her,although i try and keep her away.Do all bees sting?
The real problem is,they are back now and very active.In about 4 weeks time we are having new slabbing .This means taking up the old ones and actually cementing in the new ones.I REALLY dont want these bees killed,also could they be dangerous at all? I contacted a Bee keeping organizaion who answered with " If you cant leave them to their own devices,then you will have to destroy them if you want the slabs". GREAT HELP!
Can anyone help?
Lynda

[paulinemiller10]

Can you post a pic of the bees Lynda, are they bumblebees ?, I don't think they would be honey bees, you can move them, I have moved a few nests, get a box where they can live, use a spade to lift the nest, I would do it when its dark, the bees will make a loud buzzing noise, but they won't fly, they will be frightened and stay in the nest.

You may have a problem if the nest is quite a way from the first paving stone, you may have to lift quite a few, if they are not too bothered you could try in the day to find out where the nest is before moving it in the dark.
The bumblebees will make a loud buzzing noise, but will stay in the nest, I use a torch or outside light, have the box with a lid ready, don't worry too much about breaking the nest, they will repair it.
I move bumblebee nests at my own risk, they can sting, so you need to be careful, I move them about three yards away the first night, then a bit further the next night until they are in the new site, they can smell the nest, so will soon find the new place, hope this helps. Pauline.

[eucera]

Quite difficult to answer all of this without seeing a pic of the bees in question.

Firstly, there are about 250ish species of bee in Britain, and this includes the well-known honey bee and about 25 species of bumble.

Judging by what you say that the bees reappeared at the same time as last year, it sounds as trhough these might be some species of solitary bee (check out the Gallery at BWARS Home Page).

The majority of wild bee species nest in the ground, so although the beekeepers' group's advice seems a little brutal, it is probably not far from the best that they can give. That being said, without knowing precisely what species we are actually dealing with there could be other advice that is appropriate. On top of that, honeybee keepers are not generally dialled in to the needs of solitary bees at all - in fact, many of thos I have met are unaware of their existence.