Brown Carder Bees and Hairy Footed Flower Bees

There seems to be an increase in the number of brown carder bees this year. There have been many sightings in the twitten near our house.

Brown carder bees are also regular visitors to our garden, in particular visiting the pulmonaria and the flowering currant.

Once much more wide spread but this species is still relatively common in the south of England.

The main threat to this species is thought to be the loss of the flower-rich grassland and the intensity of modern farming methods.

The hairy footed bees (Anthophora plumipes), a solitary bee species, are still visiting the garden.

The female is black and has been most numerous the last few weeks

However, there now appear to be an equal number of males which are distinctively different being a ginger/brown colour. In our garden, this species is also vising the pulmonaria and the flowering currant - flowers that require a long tongue to reach.

This species nests in old walls or similar habitats and occasionally underground.

Both male and female hairy footed bees are also visiting the comfrey in the twitten.

Also in the twitten, I observed a comma butterfly feeding from a dandelion

This species can be identified by the ragged edges to the wings and the tiny white comma mark on the underwing.

Despite the pond being frozen many times and coveerd in snow twice, the tadpoles seem to have coped quite well.