Paul writes: One of my favourite signs of spring is the appearance of Anthophora plumipes, or the Hairy-footed Flower Bee to give it its friendlier English name. This is a solitary bee which nests in walls or chimney stacks, In Hunmanby, on the north east edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, they usually appear at the beginning of March and last through until the middle of May; this was taken in mid-April. Males appear first, followed a few days later by the females. The photograph shows a male, its most sriking feature is the white face, the female is all black. Once you spot one it’s hard to take your eyes away, they dart so quickly from flower to flower. The males are territorial, so if there are two at the same flower bed you’ll get a fantastic display of mid-air manouvres as they try to chase the other one away. Most records come from the southern half of Britain, I’ve seen them as far north as Helmsley. Parks and gardens are the best places to look, any flower bed with a good show of lungwort is a possibility. This one was found on a roadside verge, feeding on Green Alkanet.
Taken with a Sony A6000 and a Sony 210mm zoom lens at f8, 1/250 second, ISO 500.
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Well, you can learn something every day. Springtime territorial Flower Bees and chimney stacks: nice one. But aren’t we in autumn?
OK, it’s not long to go now. The days will soon shorten down to that winter solstice moment. Then, as if by clockwork, in week 52, Robins will switch from autumn territorial to spring territorial song and we’ll be up and away again.
Very precise physiological calendars seem to be governing such natural processes. And they appear to be unaffected by weather variables. (almost)
But just now and hereabouts, there are some anti-clock-working Sweet Violet flowers basking in the free movement of mild air from southern Europe. Is this a signal?
Here is a post from my blog with pictures of the females: https://philipstrange.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/one-of-my-favourite-early-spring-bees/