The Garden Bees.

The bees in the garden have kept me entertained recently, one found on Tuesday was particularly entertaining, and developed into something quite interesting.

A Wool Carder Bee Anthidium manicatum was on the bee hotel, not very active, and when I returned a few minutes later it had gone.

Wool Carder Bee 7 July. Pete Woodruff.

This is a large cosmopolitan genus with several hundred described species, but only one in Britain. Their nests are often to be found in dead wood or walls, but can often be in bee-hotels which is where this bee was seen today. Not necessarily nesting there, but if it was, it is interesting that Yarrow was below our bee hotel, this is one of the flowers from which the female Wool Carder Bee collects from the furry leafed surface of the Yarrow to plug and close the nest hole.

Yarrow Achillea millefolium. Pete Woodruff.

An excellent record for our garden in N.Lancashire. The Wool Carder Bee has become more frequently recorded since the first was found 35 years ago at Hornby in 1992, but since 2000 it has expanded its range northwards, from being a species found more often in southern England, to being seen nearer my home town in Lancaster and being recorded about 6 miles west at Heysham.

Wool Carder Bee. Martin Jump.

Martin found this bee in his own garden in 2025, his quality image is of a far more attractive specimen than mine. Thanks for this Martin, much appreciated.

Common Carder Bees.

Common Carder Bees. Pete Woodruff.

The next entertainment by the bees, came in the form of a pair of Common Carder Bees I found paired in the garden. This was the first and most amazing experience I ever expected from a pair of insects.

This guy sounds like someone using a chainsaw at 3,000 revs a second and it is brilliant....Pump up the volume!

 

Mason Bees.

I'm not seeing much of the Mason Bees now, their fight season will have finished before the end of July.

Red Mason Bee. Pete Woodruff.

The Mason Bees have blocked off at least 20 holes in their hotel....

Blue Mason Bee. Pete Woodruff.

This Blue Mason Bee was taking a look out whilst deciding when to make a start to block of the hole. It's been a joy to watch these small bees this year, and the antics they get up to.

Thanks to Paul Ellis for his image of the Common Terns on Conder Pool 5 July, including two of the latest fledged birds ringed as 454 & 455....Couldn't resist this one!