"BobHobden" wrote

"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote

"BobHobden"wrote:

On a Facebook group a couple of people have suggested they are
Hoverflies.

Hoverflies are nothing like bees. They are a different shape to bees.
It's unusual to see more than one at a time.


That is exactly what I thought. Eyes seem wrong for Hoverflies, they don't
fly like one and there is a number, perhaps twenty, at a time, flying
around in the sun.

There is a similar Geranium bed in a garden over the road and I've noticed
they seem to stick to our garden, not seen any over the road and I have
looked. So they don't travel far unlike Honey bees.


After the photo I took today in the kitchen I have had the following reply
from the Bee expert from the Natural History Museum (on Twitter)....

"Yes definitely Andrena sp., several similar species can only be separated
with microscope "

Turns out that although they are solitary bees they will congregate if
conditions are right. So it look like we have a number of nests in our front
garden.

--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK