Early bumblebee

With May Macro Mayhem ending tomorrow, I went on a bee hunt today with the 31mm extension tube on the 85mm lens. I took scores of photos, most of which were promptly recycled, but I did end up with a few that I quite like.

Having done some research I'm heartened to discover that I'm not alone in finding bees difficult to identify - it's a pretty tricky business. I think though that this is an Early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum); it's quite small (and quick, might I add!), with a yellow head, a yellow stripe on its abdomen and an orange tail. It's drinking from a tayberry flower here, but there were a lot of them on our cotoneaster bushes too.

The extra shot is of a much larger bee, also on a tayberry flower, and showing the full pollen baskets on its legs. Again I'm not sure of the identification, but I think it might be a Tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum). If anyone knows otherwise, please do feel free to put me straight.

I'd like to say a huge thank you to Walking Wombat for coming up with the idea of May Macro Mayhem, which has been great fun - I do hope that she'll run it again next year!