Osmia leaiana making very late nest site
The warm September weather certainly helped my little Osmia leaiana with her nest site inside one of my solitary bee observation nest boxes. I was wondering where she was collecting her nesting material from and eventually I found out exactly. A Cotoneatser Hortizontalis plant growing in my garden, that I had ‘trained’ to grow up against the garden fence.
Osmia leaiana using cotoneaster for her nest site
I have waited and waited to find and film a solitary bee cutting her nesting material, Patience paid off!
“All my articles and videos, available free, are funded by my teaching and sales of award winning bumblebee nest boxes, solitary bee boxes, and wormeries. Please help by spreading the word and forwarding this link to your friends and colleagues. https://nurturing-nature.co.uk Thank you” George Pilkington
She carried on and on using this plant. I was really impressed even as we got later into the month. She survived for some time and I have filmed her every day for my next video, due shortly.
According to BWARS these bees generally fly until August. This one is the exception!
Not sure which bees you have?
For info and link to buy an excellent book Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland by Steven Falk
An extremely useful resource supports this book by a special web site feature within Steve Falk’s Flickr web site which furnishes extra photos and other useful resources to assist with identification.
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