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Leaf-cutter Bee

A smiling happy home-owner. Leaf-cutter Bees (Megachile centuncularis) haven't been around the garden for a while, but now there are loads of them. They usually cut a perfect circular disc out of rose leaves (without greatly harming the rose) to take back to the nest. The nest is usually a hole in timber created by man (in this case a hole drilled in a plank for a bolt) or sometimes created by other creatures such as large, boring beetle larvae. The leaf in this picture is actually growing out of the ground, through the hole, which is some feat as the plank is about a foot (30cm) above the ground, resting on some rocks!

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Uploaded on June 20, 2007
Taken on June 21, 2007