Tawny Mining Bee

No thermal imaging today.

After breakfast and a delay to let it settle we went for a bike ride. We did our 2.5 hour loop which is about 50 km long. I managed a sustained decent down one of the hills of 60 km/h which is a lot easier on my road bike than my mountain bike...

After the bike ride we had a late lunch and then various jobs round the house. I pottered round the garden with my camera trying to photograph stuff. As we're still in spring the light's a lovely colour but a lousy angle in our garden where all the interesting bits are still in partial shade at the moment by 2pm...

After a few boring shots of bursting buds I found this Tawny Mining Bee (Andrena fulva) and she was a lot calmer than the bubble bees, so easier to blip. She was in shade so there is a bit of digital noise and she isn't as sharp as she should be...

Apparently they are common at this time of year and a good pollinator of red currants and their ilk. We use to have them where we use to live pollinating our black and red currant bushes but they aren't in bloom yet and this bee was in the willow.