Red-tailed bumblebee

The sun was shining, and being Tiny Tuesday, I wanted to take a picture of the macro world, ideally, another bee. When I went out, I realised there are actually three species of bee in our garden at the moment. The white-tailed (which may be a Garden Bumblebee) likes the lavender and valerian. The red-tailed, of which this chap appears to be one, like the valerian and geraniums. The common carder seems to be far less common and prefers the valerian. I'm getting much more used to the bees, and don't start up unless one flies directly at me now.

The red-tailed bees are much smaller than the white-tailed/garden bumblebee, and therefore harder to photograph. The lens I was using was 85mm, with no extension tubes, so not the easiest - but worth it. I'm quite glad my garden is now providing food to three species - even if the cats are now adept at catching and eating bees. Sigh.