There’s been a starvation alert sent round by the BBKA this week – “ I don’t think anyone can have failed to notice that the weather has not lived up to expectations so far this season. We have heard from many beekeepers that they have inspected colonies recently which are at major risk of starvation.”
Bearing this in mind, what have bees got to feed on at the moment? Bramble (blackberry) flowers are about, which will be helpful. A couple of weeks ago I took the photos of giant vipers bugloss below, which bees of all kinds seem to love.
The foxgloves and oxeye daisies are doing really well in my garden this year. I often see a bumblebee bottom disappearing up a foxglove bell. The oxeye daisies are visited by delicate metallic beetles which shine in the sun. And this week I saw a new visitor – the bee-fly. I noticed this curious creature because it hovers like a hummingbird in front of flowers, but has spindly legs like a spider and a long tongue like a moth. Very fast and hard to photograph by the way.
Bee-fly
In the same patch of flowers a drone fly was aggressively dive bombing any bees that it saw, including big bumbles. It is supposedly a honey bee mimic, but it doesn’t remind me of honey bees. It looks more like a drone honey bee of course, as they have larger eyes to spot queens with.
Aggressive drone fly
In the last couple of months I’ve gained an elderly ginger cat called Tigerbun. I have a bait hive set up for bees, but so far all it has attracted is some spiders and Tigerbun, who sits atop it sunning himself. There have been reports of swarms about so who knows, I may get lucky.
Adventuresinbeeland's Blog 
I tried to grow an E. pininana once but failed, they are spectacular. We have had lots of trees flowering here despite the rain from Acacia to Linden and now waiting for sweet chestnut as well as the shrubs inside the garden so our bees have not been hungry. In fact the extra rain we have had here seems to have improved the blossom available for the bees. I have noticed more bee fly mimics this year. There are different types and here some are very like honeybees. Amelia
LikeLike
They seem to like the coastal areas round here. That is good to hear your bees are doing well for nectar this year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad to see you’re still posting.
This year, once again, bees are feasting on my hummingbird feeders. I don’t see much flowering around here, so it’s understandable, albeit (get it? al-bee-it . . . nevermind) annoying.
As for bee flies, I only saw them when I lived in Colorado (we had a lot more annual flowers there), and managed to photograph a few. For example, in this post:
https://dispersertracks.com/2014/07/14/bugs-and-buds/
Good luck with capturing swarms.
LikeLike
lovely pics, wish I had your talent with the camera. Happy hummingbird spotting (between the bees)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting. If bee flies visit your garden it probably means you have solitary bees nesting. Have you seen any?
LikeLike
That’s good! I have seen some little solitary bees on my ox eye daisies yes. There are some holes in a patch of bare soil I have. Ivy has started growing over the soil, do you think I should cut it back and keep it bare for them?
LikeLike
I would cut the ivy back so that the holes stay available. It might be interesting to get a photo of the bees on the oxe eye daisies. The Colletes have just appeared here on these flowers and can usually be identifed to genus if not species. I would be interested to see a photo.
LikeLike