We have lots of small mining-bees in the garden which I have never identified to species before. I am happy that this one is a Tawny mining-bee. It was sunning itself in the hedge.
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| Tawny mining-bee Andrena fulva |
However the main colony of bees have their nest entrances around some loosely laid slabs near the house, and these are a different species which I think are Yellow-legged mining-bees Andrena flavipes.
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| Yellow-legged mining-bee Andrena flavipes
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| Nomada fucata, a cuckoo bee |
I think these are Syrphus ribesii and Eupeodes corolla but would welcome any corrections.
The first house martins of the year, and a couple of new plants bring my total to 143.
Hi Marilyn. Good work. I'm finding the bees a challenge too. I think you're right with Andrena fulva, but I don't think the second one is flavipes - I don't think the pale bands on the abdomen are clearly defined enough. I don't know which it is though (but clearly this may affect your Nomada identification too). I'm making heavy use of a combination of the BWARS website alongside a good county status review that was published in the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists Society journal recently.
ReplyDeleteThe 1st hover looks like a male Syrphus but identification to species from a photo is (as far as I'm aware) not possible? Female (eyes separate) ribesii/vitripennis separated on pattern on the legs, males (eyes touching) ideally you need to look at wings under a microscope.
I suspect the corollae is correct though.
Thanks Andy. I think the flavipes (?) in the photo was a rather knocked about specimen, it was just crawling about in the grass. I caught a much livelier one later which I was able to have a good look at and it definitely had the yellow hairs on the hind legs, so I am happy I have seen the species. I will look again to make sure which ones are going down the holes!
ReplyDeleteAs for the hoverflies, I think I need to buy the book!