After a warm couple of weeks the temperature dropped suddenly on Tuesday and we've had quite a long of rain. From the conservatory window, I noticed a roosting Wool carder bee (
Anthidium manicatum) on a Purple Toadflax flower spike, one of their favourite flowers. As I took a photo I saw there were actually three others roosting nearby, all females. Today it was far too cold for them to be active, so they are braving the weather holding onto the flowers with their jaws, so when the sun shines again they should be ready to feed straight away.
Although we've had a few poor years for wool carder bees, this year they have come back en force and two males have been defending their territory in the garden.
Spot the roosting bees. A carder bee, Bombus pascuorum, feeds on the flowers unmolested. Bumblebees generate their own body heat and their dense hair coat helps them retain it so they can be active at lower temperatures than the wool carder bees.
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