Mini Bee

Those who have followed me know I like the little things in life. Especially if they creep, crawl or fly. I sometimes get a little excited and I did today.
There is nothing like looking through the debris of wind and rain flattened borders and finding droplets hanging like jewels from the tiny Spurred Snapdragons. Grab a camera and find in amongst the droplets a little bee.

This isn't a wasp although it's face looks very similar. It's a tiny bee, Hylaeus signatus which is no more than half a centimetre long and found only in a few pockets in the south of the UK. Why it's common name is a Yellow faced bee when it is clearly white, I don't know. This as a male. The female has small white cheekmarks rather than this full face mask.

I've tried to find out a bit about them but there is little to find. All I know about them is that they are happiest on bramble and umbellifer flowers, sweet cicely, cow parsley and other plants with flatish, multi flowered heads. He might have been waiting for the Angelica, towering above him, to flower. They collect pollen internally instead of in pouches on their legs and live mostly in hollow sticks or stems. They produce a honey substance which they store in little cells within the hollows. I wouldn't go looking for it as the amount wouldn't fill a teaspoon.

Anyway, I hadn't seen one for a long time and am happy he lives in my soggy garden. He looks quite good along side the colourful little blooms and water droplets.

Go large to see him in detail. He's cute and won't sting.