For the past couple of weeks I've been watching a large bee that hovers a little like a hoverfly and appears to be very energetically defending a territory around the lamb's ear in the flower border.
Well it turns out this particular species of bee is one of the largest British solitary bees and very much associated with lamb's ear. It is a wool-carder bee (Anthidium manicatum). The males are larger than the females (typically it's the other way around in other bee species) and defend territories against other insects very aggressively. They even have a series of stout spines on their abdomen with which to clobber interlopers! Although under-recorded, the bee has only recently become locally common in Southern England so finding one in the garden is a real treat.
Now getting a decent photograph has been a bit of a challenge, but here's a male on a lamb's ear leaf.
The common name of wool-carder bee is derived from their habit of shaving silky hairs from the leaves of various plants (such as lamb's ear). The hairs are fashioned into a ball and and applied to the inner surface of the nest cavity. Nests are made in cavities such as dead wood, plant stems, burrows in the soil and various man-made objects - including bamboo cane nest boxes. Our own box appears to have some sealed ends so perhaps we have a nest!
