www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks for the link Pete, I have managed to I.D many of my hoverflies I had taken photos of last year. Could the parasites be deer ticks? Just a guess.

Hi
I have an interesting one from the summer...
This has got to have been the largest bee I have ever come across!

OK, I agree that hovers have antennae but just watch a bee investigating a flower for pollen or nectar. Its antennae are like a pair of hands, and of a completely different order than those tiny things on flies.
Did you know that Em's orange tailed bumblebees are warm blooded? They can dislocate their flight muscles in cold weather and vibrate them until they reach around 30C, enabling them to be mobile when other flying insects are grounded.

Hi Em,

Like the Bee. I remember on my trip to Killard Point, I saw lots of those bees, but failed to get one to sit for a photo. It might be a red tailed bumble bee, but there are a few similar species that have the red abdomen like that.

Sallow is starting to come into flower here and there, and this acts as a magnet for queen bumblebees awaking from hibernation and hungry for nectar. Sometimes the trees appear to be humming with the activity of the bees. I understand it also attracts large tortoiseshells, not that I expect to be seeing them this far north.

I think Em's orange-tailed bee is ruderarius, but identifying pics as rare-ish insects always makes me nervous. Anyone like to offer a second opinion?

That bee might be Ruderatus, in Ruderarius it has red pollen baskets that can separate it from the other species and Ruderatus has a usually darker yellow band and is rarely seen further from Norfolk since it became scarce in many places of Britain. Don't know if this helps at all.

Cherry trees in orchard here starting to flower and blossom, and the queen bumble bees are out, not seen any activity in the honey bee hive we have in a old wall. Been there since as long as I remember and a few years back we had a swarm of honey bees. I reckon there was over a million bees swarming about. Took about 4 hours before the bees dispersed. The air was black and buzzing. Never seen anything like it again

Today a hoverfly! again on crocuses. There were 4 bumblebees as well.
Cheers Sezar

That's a bee.

Thanks Susie

Saw what looked like another queen bumble bee today, it was large and flying about flowers. It is slowly getting warmer here, but sill not a lot around

Susie wrote:That's a bee.

Completely agree - the eyes and the body are a giveaway. Bees have relatively small eyes - hoverfly eyes are huge. And bees have relatively-thick (and hairy) bodies - hoverfly bodies are relatively-thin (side-on) and shiny.

Cheers,

- Pete

I have noticed that in hoverflies, the eyes are usually on top of their head, whereas bees have eyes on side of head. And that is a bee Sezar. Also if you watch how hoverflies hover, you'll notice they fly different to bees.

One of each today - hoverfly Eristalis tenax and bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Still no butterflies about here, but definite signs that they are on their way.

I can understand the bee/hover mistake with Sezar's photo as the antennae are not immediately obvious. However, they are tucked down into the pollen, investigating it in typical bee fashion. And I agree with the others, the general 'jizz' is definitely 'bee'.

I can easily understand the mistake. It takes a while to get your eye in but once you get the hang of it then it is easy, even with the bee mimics. If you think of hoverfly eyes as being similar to a pair of those wrap around sunglasses going right across the front of the head then you won't go far wrong.


I saw an impressive sight on Monday at Wakehurst place with dozens and dozens of bumbles all in one area. There were about 30 bumbles on a bed of heather and a couple of dozen more on the ground searching for nesting sites (I believe) in the base of some ornamental grasses.

Here are a few of Monday's bumbles.

Thanks to you all for your kind comments, I am learning, never too late.

Sezar

I'm not too well up on my bumbles, Suzie, but would those be two different species, white and buff tailed?

I thought when I saw them on Monday that they were all buff tails but from looking at that photo there does appear to be a difference between the two in the bottom photograph.

The honest answer is I don't actually know!

Perhaps someone with more experience would care to enlighten us.

i think what your looking at is bombus terrestris. the queen having the buff tail, and the males and workers the white,but what they were all doing together sounds as if they had in some way been disturbed before you found them.