The boys are back in town

An early start to pick up the reptile refugia from one of our survey sites, during which I managed to pull a muscle that I'd damaged on Saturday's field trip. So, much of the rest of the day was spent at the computer with an ice pack strapped to my hip. Luckily I've got a relatively quiet couple of days before fieldwork starts again.

I didn't risk going for a walk, so resorted to photographing bees in the garden. Lots of male bees are emerging now, and they're often easier to photograph, being rather more laid back than the female workers, who tend to hurry from flower to flower rather than linger awhile. 

This is a male Red-tailed Bumblebee - it has a different colour pattern from the female, with extra yellow stripes on the thorax. In other species you need to count the segments of the antennae - male bees have 11 antennal segments rather than 10 - and look at the shape of the abdomen. With practice its possible to sex bees quite quickly. Pete has often impressed people by picking up bees with his bare hands - but he knows which are males, and of course, they can't sting!