Leaf Cutting Bee

[Tim Harrison]

Saw a bee carrying a leaf fragment out of the corner of my eye disappearing into a hole in my decrepit wooden balcony rail. Intrigued I hung around and managed to get these snaps with my iPhone, Fascinating insects. Leaf-cutting bees / RHS Gardening

 

[LondonDragon]

Great shots

 

[Tim Harrison]

Thanks Paulo. Apparently she's using the leaf fragments to build cells within her nest, which she'll provision with nectar and pollen. She'll lay up to 20 eggs sealing each individual egg chamber off as she goes along. The new bees will emerge sometime mid July. Makes me appreciate the value of a bug hotel and providing habitat for these valuable pollinating insects even more.

 

[Myrtle]

I sometimes get these in one of my bee houses along with the others. Each egg knows when to hatch so that when it comes time to leave the nest tube, the last laid will emerge first, leaving the empty cell for the one behind to emerge through and so forth.

 

[Liam]

Great shots especially with a phone.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Thanks Paulo, apparently she's using the leaf fragments to build cells within her nest, which she'll provision with nectar and pollen.

These are the leaves after she has visited, often Rose and always these really neat semi-circles.

Cheers Darrel

 

[Tim Harrison]

I've had a look around the garden and I can't find where she's cutting her leaves from. I had hoped to bring this full circle and show you some pics of the neat semi-circle Darrel mentioned, but alas none have anything missing. I'll continue the search tomorrow.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

....... I had hoped to bring this full circle and show you some pics of the neat semi-circle Darrel mentioned, but alas none have anything missing. I'll continue the search tomorrow.

Other way around for me, I know where she gets the leaves from, but not where the nest is.

The other damage to the rose leaves (the brown areas) is another Hymenoptera, a Rose Sawfly of some description.

In the glasshouse the leaf cutter bee's nest in the drier plant pots, usually ones with succulents growing in them.

The bee's look Honey-bee like, but carry the pollen on the underside of the abdomen and thorax, rather than in pollen baskets on their legs.

Cheers Darrel

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

These are the leaves after she has visited, often Rose and always these really neat semi-circles.

The Rose is David Austen one, <"Harlow Carr">, a horrible thorny thing with floppy stems, but a fantastic flowerer, disease free and very sweetly scented.

Cheers Darrel

 

[hypnogogia]

My plot includes the old rose garden

Sounds lovely. Is the house old as well?

 

[Tim Harrison]

Sounds lovely. Is the house old as well?

Ah, thank you. No the house was built in the late 1970s, and hasn't been touched since, and needs a full refurb. The rotting railing is just one of many projects that need attention, and the last on a long list. But that's proven to be very fortuitous

 

[seedoubleyou]

We’ve actually seen several large swarms of bee here in Ascot. Apparently there’s a shortage of bee keeping equipment leading to swarms of bees upping sticks and searching for new homes.

 

[Tim Harrison]

The same here @seedoubleyou. It's a bit freaky, At first I heard this distant buzzing that I put down to a neighbours power tools. Then when it's almost up on you, you realise it's a swarm of bees. And let me tell you, the inclination is to get the hell out of the way ASAP.

 

[PARAGUAY]

A couple of years ago my son s Laurel Hedge was taken over by a swarm of Honey Bees The local Bee society said most likely they have been disturbed and on the move, they offered to capture the swarm but they moved on of their own before the offer was taken up.
Farther back a lot of Bumble Bees took over the Blue Tits nestbox at my own house the Bee experts said they were harmless and by August would vacate the box ,really placid bees allover garden and in August they went,

 

[Tim Harrison]

Looks like she's finished. It's all sealed up