Solitary bees and a Easter hat

I spent a couple of days over the Easter weekend wandering the fields and meadows alongside the bank of the River Stour, near Whitemill in Dorset.

The aim to photograph solitary bees that may be found amongst the Dandelion flowers (Taraxacum officinale) at this time of year.

Interestingly I also came across a new specie of mayfly, this Small Spurwing mayfly (Centroptilum luteolum) which appears to have got into the spirit of Easter by sporting a hat!

Here’s a profile shot taken from a bit futher away.

Now on to the solitary bees, the first of which is a Nomada bee, possibly goodeniana, flava or fucata. These bees, also known as cuckoo bees, invade the nests of another bee specie, the Andrena.

This next one is again a side on profile shot.

Next are the Andrena bees whose aforementioned nests are subeject to invasion.

As you can see they all like the Dandelion pollen.

Here I used a coral filter to create the orange background.

This last one is my personal favourite from the 2 days.

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