I had a lovely lunchtime walk today with Crafty Green Boyfriend. We wandered round Corstorphine Hill, which is so close to where he works that he walks there every day! The weather was beautiful and there were a lot of solitary bees around. I managed to catch one of them on camera in this photo, you can clearly see all the holes that these bees have made in the ground. We also saw a second species of solitary bee, with a red body, but couldn't get a photo of that one.
Thursday 21 April 2011
Solitary Bees
I had a lovely lunchtime walk today with Crafty Green Boyfriend. We wandered round Corstorphine Hill, which is so close to where he works that he walks there every day! The weather was beautiful and there were a lot of solitary bees around. I managed to catch one of them on camera in this photo, you can clearly see all the holes that these bees have made in the ground. We also saw a second species of solitary bee, with a red body, but couldn't get a photo of that one.
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I've noticed very small ground dwelling bees in the garden in the last few weeks,then what we thought were some very small ground dwelling wasps in the same area. It turns out the yellow and black 'wasps' are in fact another kind of bee, which cleptoparasitises the first kind, ie it follows it into the nest, steals the pollen store and displaces, perhaps eating, the original larva. They're quite fascinating and it's good to learn more about them. The dry weather has increased their numbers and activity I think.
We get them in pockets in our stone walls sometimes. I love all bees - not so keen on wasps though.
I hadn't heard of these bees, so I looked them up. The red mason bee was there, too. We must not have them here.
I've never heard of solitary bees!
Fascinating. And Corstophine Hill looks like a desert.
My knowledge of bees is pitiful so thank you for sharing yours and the photo.
I love the bees. There used to be at least two or three carpenter bees at each of the old log houses at the living history museum where I used to work. I always enjoyed watching them work in their holes in the wood, dribbling out little bits of sawdust (bee dust?) as they worked on their homes.
Titus = most of Corstorphine Hills is lush and green but the paths are sandy and often dry, which is where the bees are making their nests
Lucy - we discovered parasitic bee flies recently, it's amazing what goes on in the insect world!
Weaver I love bees but like you not so keen on wasps!
Bunnits - yes they're wonderful to watch, we were fascinated!
You're very observant. Good shot.
Yesterday I watched a bumble bee fly into the siding of my house. I highly doubt it's living in there. It seemed a little strange to me... I want to start reading up more about bees.
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