Fur bees on our lavender

Posted by Jon on Aug 5, 2010 in Wild bees | 0 comments

A couple of large lavender plants are flourishing outside our front door and I had expected them to be covered in our honeybees. Whilst a few do visit, we see more wild bees on the lavender ranging from our three resident types of bumblebees to this great little green eyed bee that flits quickly from flower to flower.

I searched my bee book to try to identify it but couldn’t find it anywhere so went to the experts at the HymIS forum who identified it as Anthophora (subgenus Amegilla). I couldn’t find a great deal about this little solitary bee on the internet but did find a good overview on the Insectoid website. They live in burrows and the pupae overwinters, emerging as an adult in the early spring.

The photos aren’t great but they really do fly fast and never seem to settle on the flowers, just a quick suck and they are off!

(click to enlarge)