Tawny mining bees on my gooseberry bush today, males and females so I hope they're nesting near by. The female was an amazing colour so I hope I can get some photos tomorrow. This is the first time I've seen them in the garden so I'm up to 21 species of bee now
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
A study of a beetle preserved in amber showed that flower beetles were feeding on pollen almost as soon as flowering plants evolved 99 million years ago
These tawny bees are hard to photograph. The only time I could get close to one was when it had its head stuffed into a gooseberry flower. Lovely little bees though and such a vivid colour.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Might this be a red mason bee? I was cleaning out the nest box (very belatedly) and was inspecting the mason bee cocoons. They were covered in mould and thought they were probably from a few years before. But there and then, one cocoon hatched in my kitchen. I took the remain cocoons back to the nest boxes outside and another hatched on the way. You can see the hatch poo on the side of the botttle. The cocoons and bees were only in the bottle for a few mins (for transport). The little male bee crawled out on to a forgetmenot and settled in. I could see his little white moustache. It was my first witnessed bee hatching and it was thrilling.
It looks like I have lost most of my over-wintering dahlias - but have 'gained' little mason bees - swings and roundabouts.
Yep. See the little horns on the face? The females are the only bee species in the UK to have them. Dead giveaway.
I still can't get close to the tawny bees. I need a lens with a bit more length I think. I found that the males seem to patrol the shrubbery and return to one or two resting spots though so I staked out the apple tree branch they like and managed to get one photo that I could crop down. They look really different to the females, smaller, less red and with a very dapper white moustache.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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Hello all, I had my first bee fly here last week too. Obviously not this - any ideas what this creature is? I've tried google but no joy.
A study of a beetle preserved in amber showed that flower beetles were feeding on pollen almost as soon as flowering plants evolved 99 million years ago