The Joy of Spring

I realise that at first sight it might seem strange a message about bees and butterflies. Because the effective period in which plant can be studied is limited to about two months I've started to study Bees and Wasps. And insects as you all might know are very related to plants (pollination). So in early spring I'm always on the hunt for Hoverlies that have hibernated, Andrena Bees and Bumblebees. Yesterday I finally had succes!

Last few days I already visited the botanical garden next to my school. Due to the presence of clouds and a low air temperature I wasn't able to spot any Bees or Hoverflies. Last saturday I saw my first Bumblebee of this year. It was a Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestis).

Yesterday I had better luck as I already mentioned. I've started a bit uneasy with my insectnet. Most of the times I tell people to stay an arm and net length away from me. This because I might swing my net round. So fast as I was last year so slowly I started yesterday.

Below you'll find a list of the species I've spotted yesterday. Also I've included photo's of some.

• Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestis)
• Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
• Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum)
• Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)
• Hairy Footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumipes)
• Unkown male Miningbee (Andrena spec.)
• Unkown dwarf male Miningbee (Andrena spec.)
• Waspbee species (Nomada spec.)
• Marmalade Fly (Episyrphus balteatus)
• Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax)
• Comma (Polygonia c-album)