A Welcome Return - _TNY_1141
Every summer me and the family spend a couple of weeks at my mother-in-law's house outside Härnösand, about 50 kilometers (31 mi) to the north of us.
She has a huge garden and in it there are a couple of places where she keeps house leeks (Sempervivum tectorum). These attract European carder bees, (Anthidium manicatum) like this male and I think they look absolutely wonderful.
Unfortunately I haven't seen any of these since 2016 (wrong weather when we were visiting) or wrong time of the season, but in 2019 they were back!
The females gather hairs from plants (like the house leek) for their nests and males become very territorial about them and chase other males and other insects away from it. It doesn't show very well fom this angle, but he actually has a couple of spikes (not to be confused with a stinger) on the back of his abdomen which is used for these fights.
I actually have a dedicated album with shots just of these guys and you can find it here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/albums/72157667862870066
A Welcome Return - _TNY_1141
Every summer me and the family spend a couple of weeks at my mother-in-law's house outside Härnösand, about 50 kilometers (31 mi) to the north of us.
She has a huge garden and in it there are a couple of places where she keeps house leeks (Sempervivum tectorum). These attract European carder bees, (Anthidium manicatum) like this male and I think they look absolutely wonderful.
Unfortunately I haven't seen any of these since 2016 (wrong weather when we were visiting) or wrong time of the season, but in 2019 they were back!
The females gather hairs from plants (like the house leek) for their nests and males become very territorial about them and chase other males and other insects away from it. It doesn't show very well fom this angle, but he actually has a couple of spikes (not to be confused with a stinger) on the back of his abdomen which is used for these fights.
I actually have a dedicated album with shots just of these guys and you can find it here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/albums/72157667862870066