Insect supplement

Duncan Campbell sent a lot of interesting pictures of bees and wasps, so I'm adding an insect supplement to today's blog. All the pictures except the final one and the video are his, with his suggestions for identification.

This is almost certainly a female Red Mason Bee, Osmia bicornis.

This smaller bee is also an Osmia species, and may be the male of the previous one. It's on a 'bee hotel', a piece of wood with holes drilled in it for the convenience of bees.

Another Osmia bee with fine green eyes. He can't suggest a species for this one.  Update: Conehead 54 has identified them as Osmia caerulescens. The colour identifies it as male ...

... and here's another one, which oddly is much smaller. Females, not shown here, are blue and give the species both its scientific name and the common name of Blue Mason Bee.

Another probable Osmia in a worn state which makes it hard to identify.

Probably an Andrena Mining Bee, species unknown. Update: Conehead 54 has identified it as Andrena haemorrhoa. Its common name is Orange-Tailed Mining Bee and this one is female. You can just see the small orange tip to its abdomen.

A wasp, most likely the Yellow-Spotted Sapyga, Monosapyga clavicornis. It's a parasitoid, hanging around the 'bee hotel' waiting for a chance to lay eggs in the hole of a Mason Bee.

The last of Duncan's pictures is a Ruby-Tailed Wasp, likely Chrysis ignita, in the same place.

My picture from today of a Soldier Beetle, Cantharis rustica, on a grass stem near the Round Pond.

A video from the Rose Garden: a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee enjoying the pollen in a rugosa rose is pushed out by another bee wanting its turn.