FOR THE LOVE OF BEES

My challenge for 2017
is to record the many different species
that visit my garden.
(Identifying them may be a challenge for another year!)

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MARCH

Carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea)

This one looks very similar to the two below, but the legs of all three seem quite different.

Is this even a bee at all, or a bee mimic fly? (I believe they have very long legs and proboscis)

APRIL

Most of the bumblebees seem to have disappeared from our garden by mid April. Whether this is simply because the popular blue-flowered plant has "gone over", or for another reason, I don't know. Now our Australian cordyline is flowering and attracting a lot of bees - most of which appear to be honey bees (rose chafers also adore it!). The second one (below right) appears to be a bumble, but the closer you zoom in, even to honey bees, the hairier they appear - especially on the thorax and when dusted with pollen.

I'm fairly sure that the next group of seven are all the same species of honey bee.
Similar to (but not exactly the same as?) the second stripey individual on the blue flowers in March, above.

Amazing to see how well they keep flying despite, in some cases, having very tatty wings (below left).
The productive worker in the other two photos has an admirable load of pollen on its back legs.

The one in the next three shots looks more like the one on the blue flowers in March, above, with three distinct bands of orange-yellow

Small, hovering bumblebee seen in March, now enjoying a different flower

MAY

This month another Australian plant - a broom - is the main attraction for honey bees. Lobelia is popular, and lantana too, but danger lurks there. By now I'm not seeing any new species - but finally manage to photograph a tiny one that loves the equally small pink flowers of what I think is a type of wild clover.

Honey and bumble bee on the broom

I'm going to hazard a guess that this is a female Anthophora plumipes. According to my book, females are jet black except for orange pollen brushes on their back legs. Her left back leg is slightly hidden by her wing, but there is a hint of a paler colour (but not orange?) in the lower segment, I think.

Although her back legs are tucked in, in this shot, again, I think there's a hint of a lighter colour.

A favourite from March returns to enjoy the lobelia in a hanging basket - he already has quite a load of pollen! And he might, in fact, be the male Anthophora plumipes. Such a contrast from the female (possibly in the photo above). Males of this species apparently have prominent fans of hairs on middle legs. And the eye "reaches down to meet the jaw, with no cheek area such as occurs in bumble bees."

The eye in this shot does seem to extend right the way down. And I would say the middle legs look quite "fanned".

This white spider has caught a honey bee

Tiny bee tucking in

Another cheat - taken outside the garden. When I first saw this small black bee, it was quite still, curled round the stamens of the flower in the shade. I wondered if it was dead but when I touched it lightly, it moved and began to walk around. Perhaps it had spent the night there asleep?

JUNE

As the temperature rises, lavender, cistus and gazania bring at least one species I haven't seen before.

Fairly sure this is a female Anthidium florentinum. It's small - for comparison, note ladybird near top of lavender spike. According to my book, this species is "distinguished from most of its relatives by yellow or brick-red borders to thorax." (see photo below left). Intriguing to read that its nest is lined with hairs plucked from plants. Males are much bigger than females.

The bee in the next three photos looks similar to the one above, but possibly without the yellow borders to its thorax? Hard to tell from the angle, but its legs look much the same.

This looks slightly different from the black bee in May

This probably only has a Latin name, but it should surely be called the humbug bee. It's very small (these are salvia flowers) and fast moving.

I've noted the Carpenter bee before, but this one has got himself in such a mess on the marjoram!

JULY

A final few blue flowers are still opening on the salvia but that plant, along with many others, will soon go dormant until the autumn or next spring. By mid July, as temperatures regularly reach the 40s in the sun, there's a significant reduction in bee numbers. Few honey bees. Most seem to be bumbles and the wasp-like yellow and black ones seen in June.

There have been black and grey-white hairy bees in earlier months, but this one might be different again. More like a hairy humbug, though bigger than the "Humbug" seen in June; it has impressive grey pollen brushes on its back legs.

The mass of dead flowers below the bee, on the left, is a crab spider's nest. The female is sitting in it, guarding her growing brood.

Click on photos for larger image.

Another new one this month. To get a better idea of how tiny it is, see honey bee on the same plant, in next photo.

Honey bees' tongues aren't long enough to reach nectar in these salvia flowers the conventional way. They take a short cut by stabbing a hole through the outside of the flower, close to the stem.

Click photos below for larger image. This bee must be the smallest of all.

AUGUST

The first week of August is oppressively hot, then for a few days the temperature plummets to an autumnal 16 degrees first thing, barely passing 20 by the afternoon. By the end of week two, however, it's warming up again. A few plants continue to flower, including salvia and lantana.

Even fewer honey bees in evidence, but the usual bumbles - and quite a few humbugs.