A solitary bee quartet

I had so many wild things this summery sunny day that if was hard to settle for an invertebrate group to feature. For lunch I went out with fellow wildlife-lovers Robert Jaques and Callum MacGregor, and tried to capture some hoverflies. Hoverflies were indeed a good candidate for my wild group today as there were plenty, and of many species. Many males were hovering, but a couple of Myathropa florea males managed to sit on my hand, Robert's shoulder and Callums head and avoid the insect net altogether. Episyrphus balteatus, the marmalade fly, were also hovering, and the beautifully metallic Epistrophe eligans. Then I spotted a new spider, with a caterpillar on its web, and then another, would I feature spiders? Then a Red Mason bee started feeding on Buttercups, maybe a wild solitary bee day?

Female Red Mason bee, Osmia bicornis on buttercups. One of her 'horns' is visible at the front of her head. She uses its horns to mould mud she uses to seal her nest.

 Later after work I popped in for ten minutes in the wildlife garden. It was quite warm at the time. A leaf-cutter bee was feeding on thyme, and then chives. Its white and golden mittens flashed as it fed, a Willoughby's leaf cutter bee. Definitely a solitary bee day!

Male Willoughby Leaf-cutter bee, one of the easiest to identify by its front legs, which are covered on white-golden hairs in the shape of mittens, just visible here.

Back home I went to the sage. I had seen a favourite bee of mine yesterday very briefly. Anthophora furcata, a male which didn't settle, patrolling around the sage and the hedge woundwort. This is a rich brown bee with a very long tongue. Males have a yellow face and they have a strong preference for hedge woundwort, but also like several others flowers with deep corollas. Males appear, as many other bees, earlier in the season, settle in an area with their favourite flowers and check other bees, often head-butting them, while in search of females. And there he was, lovely and fresh. He even stopped the frantic patrolling to settle on a sage leaf to bask for a while, its back and face covered on pollen.

A male Anthophora furcata.

As I watched the A. furcata, a smaller bee caught my attention. It was a female Osmia caerulescens. This is a long tongued bee too, females have a bluish tinge and white hairs on stripes on its abdomen. After feeding on the sage, the bee stopped and stretched its tongue several times.

Female Osmia caerulescens

A female Osmia bicornis in the garden on the wallflower Erysimum 'Bowles mauve'.

If you'd like to learn to identify solitary bees, the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society is a wonderful resource. Identification sheets for common solitary bees, often found in gardens are available too. There are 205 species, many hard to identify, but a few common ones are easy to identify once you become familiar with them.

Buzzzzzzz!!!!!

There was definitely a buzz in the garden today. The usual Anthophora plumipes males were now joined by the first female of the year (above), feeding on the Pulmonaria. The Pulmonaria, unfortunately, was in the shade, so I couldn't take as sharp photos as I would have liked. A male Osmia bicornis (previously rufa) was patrolling the grape Hyacinths and a female Andrena fulva made a brief appearance. Just on cue, as the Cherry, a favourite of this bee, started to bloom yesterday.
 A Green Shieldbug was out sunbathing, also the first of the year. Many young wolf spiders were out too in the sun, stalked by my young cat, who likes to hunt and eat them, to my dismay. A Peacock butterfly passed by, but didn't settle.

Unidentified Andrena sp. on a dandelion.

Male Osmia bicornis

Male Anthophora plumipes.

Green shieldbug

Flea beetle, Altica sp.

Cherry pollinators fest!

It was a warm, sunny afternoon and the cherry was at full bloom (three weeks earlier than last year), attracting a menagerie of bees, butterflies, queen wasps and flies. I did saw a honeybee, but I think even without this species, the cherry would be fully pollinated given the number and diversity of insects on it.

 Several bees were firsts for the year, including Bombus lapidarius, B. pascuorum and Melecta albifrons. I saw the first male red mining bee yesterday but they seemed to be everywhere today.

Bombus lapidarius queen 

Anthophora plumipes female

Queen wasp grooming

Possibly a dronefly

Male Osmia bicornis

and a Peacock also settled repeatedly on the blossom to feed

A small shining metallic wasp fell on the small pond and was rescued.

The first water beetle in the Victorian bath that makes our mini pond, awaiting ID.

Melecta albifrons, a cuckoo bee that parasitises A. plumipes, feeding on Muscari

 Melecta albifrons,  resting on a daffodil

And finally, a shot of a Red Mason Bee patrolling the Muscari.

Pair of red Mason Bees

While I was gardening, a furry, buzzing ball drops from the sky into the bottom of a clay pot full of broken crocks. I peek in: it is a pair of Red Mason Bees and the female, with the male firmly holding onto her back, has trouble climbing out. I give them a helping hand and place them on a dandelion. The female quickly starts to feed, greedily on the nectar. The male keeps holding on. He vibrates his wings making an audible buzz, drums with his antennae, kicks her abdomen and pushes with his head against the female's head. I know that Red Mason Bees do mate guarding, a behaviour by which the male 'piggy-backs' onto the female after mating to prevent her to be inseminated by a different male, allowing his sperm valuable time to fertilise the female's eggs. I have no way of knowing if they had already mated at the bottom of the pot, but the male's behaviour was far from a passive 'guarding': he was very busy indeed and oblivious to the food nearby. He carried on for a few more minutes and then flew away. The female fed for a while longer.
 You can watch a short clip here:

Bees in ponds

When you think about a pond, bees do not normally spring to mind. Bees, however, need water. In sunny days honeybees travel in numbers to water sources to take water to cool down their hive, and they also use it to dilute honey to feed their larvae. These three were drinking by the edge of the pond in my local wildlife garden, near their hive.

On the other side of the pond edge there is a muddy site. Several female Red Mason Bees (above) were collecting mud to line and cap their cells. A female would dig up the mud and shape it with the  help of her jaws and two little facial horns into a little ball, and then fly to the nest holding the ball in her jaws. It took me a few attempts to get a half decent shot.

Osmia rufa female with her ball of mud

Rowan Feast

During the short period of time each season that a plant or tree is in full bloom they become a magnet for bees. This is the case of the rowan in the garden these days. Its flat, white inflorescences offer a white background for photos, but in many cases they are too high for close shots. Bees will pollinate many trees - for example holly and horse chestnut - but observation is even more difficult. The first Bombus hypnorum workers of the year were collecting pollen in our tree. Other bumblebee like B. lapidarius, B. pratorum and B. pascuorum will also forage on this tree. Many Red Mason Bees and a collection of hoverflies also feasted on the rowan today. Above, Helophilus pendulus, the footballer hoverfly.

This female Red Mason bee about to land on the flowers is showing its pollen basket under her abdomen and the little "horns" on her face that help her collect mud and make her nest partitions.

A Bombus hypnorum worker with a heavy pollen load.