Wight Bumblees: A Hairy Foot on the Rosemary.

Saturday 11 April 2015

A Hairy Foot on the Rosemary.

Our flowering Rosemary is proving quite an attraction for various bees now and this afternoon it received a lot of attention from a male Hairy-footed Flower Bee,Anthophora plumipes.

This species of bee is common in the south of England with the male usually appearing before the female in February or March.

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In the UK there are twenty four species of bumblebee but only eight are commonly found in most places.Bumblebees occupy a variety of habitats and most of us should be able to attract them to our gardens if we have the right kinds of flowering plants.

On the Isle of Wight eleven species have been recorded including the eight ommon ones which are Tree,Garden,Heath,Red-tailed,White-tailed,Common Carder,Early,and Buff-tailed.There are also records of three much less encountered species,the Field Cuckoo,the Vestal Cuckoo, and the Hill Cuckoo.

These latter three are parasitic bumblebees that lay their eggs in other species nests and then kill the resident queen.The occupants of the nest then rear the cuckoos' offspring unaware that it is not their own species.

There are over two hundred species of solitary bee in the UK and most can be very difficult to tell apart.

They are so named because they do not live in colonies, unlike bumblebees and honeybees.Their nests range from hollow plant stems to holes in cliffs,walls,and in the ground.

All solitary bees are first class pollinators and should be made welcome in our gardens.

Title Photo

Saturday 11 April 2015

A Hairy Foot on the Rosemary.

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