microEden

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Sorting out some Bees

I'm finding bees pretty hard to identify, despite having a Falk's field guide to the Bees of GB & Ireland on loan.  Anyhow taking advantage of a wet Sunday, I think I made some progress with old photos from June & July.

In June the Wall Daisies had a lot of these small, orange-bellied solitary bees.  Looking at photos and the guide, I think they can be identified as Patchwork Leaf-cutter Bee (#181), thanks to the extent of orange towards the tail segments. 

The other bee also from June on White Bryony flowers also seems to be a solitary bee.  Based on the amount of hair on the body and leg colour I reckon  it's Yellow-legged Mining Bee (#309).

There's a few other microEden mysteries I need to solve, I'm glad to have worked at least some of them out.