Bothersome bees

The Safari has been bothered by bees this week, well more bothered by the weather's effect on them. We'd seen some Leafcutter Bees but weren't able to identify them. Hoping to have another go at them at any opportunity when the sun shone, but the wind was blowing the thistles around something rotten.

This was our first attempt from the other day

Today's attempt with the 'proper' camera

Enough detail from the right angles to get an ID?

Then we spotted a real beast of a bee.


Think we've found the answer to that Yeti identity mystery

Another bee looked a bit different and at first we thought it might have been a bee mimicing hoverfly but in fact it's a very dark backed Tree Bee.

We always tell the kids that wasps are just bald bees in an attempt to ameliorate the unnatural terror that has been instilled in them by over-protective and utterly hysterical parents. Wasps are brill and perhaps even more fascinating than bees especially some of the predaory ones. We have to admit we're not to keen opening the moth trap on a warm autumn morning to find a few Common Wasps in there under the egg boxes.

This species of Ectemnius has been around the garden for a couple of weeks, often landing on the wooden surround of the pond to bask in the sunshine.

Then we saw it labouring in flight, when it landed we saw it had captured a prey item which looks suspiciously like a Episyrphus balteatus plucked from a nearby flower.

Always nice are Ruby Tailed Wasps

We thought we might have had a second smaller species. we tried to follow it round and thought we'd caught it when it landed on the giant ornamental Blue Tit but it had given us the slip and the individual we got a pic of was actually a female 'Lily' Fly Poecilobothrus nobilitatus.

Here's a male doing his little dance

Can you see those whirring white wingtips?

Also on the pond a few Blue Tailed Damselflies

Coming in to land

This evening Wifey got out of her car to find a cluster of 'Cabbage' White butterfly eggs (could be either of the two Large or Small) on the Nasturtiums we'd deliberately planted for them.

Great eyes!
Where to next? Got some more garden and Patch 1 stuff to show you tomorrow. Thinking about getting the mothy out tonight to test the lamp but it's flippin windy out there.
In the meantime let us know who's been leaving their eggs lying around willy-nilly in your outback.