Drumboe Wood.
I was especially on the look-out for solitary bees.
2 x Orange Tip (males), 2 x Peacock, 1 x Green-veined White.
Sunny and hot.
This is Bombus pasquorum - the Common Carder Bee - and the third of our local bumblebees for this year.
Two shots of an unidentified mining bee. The first shows it emerging from the 4 mm entrance, and the second showing an intruder being repelled.
This reddish bee was exploring possible holes in a south-west facing bank. It's a female Andrena clarkella, which feeds its young exclusively on Willow pollen.
This is an Andrena cineraria solitary bee. About 15 mm long.
My first Syrphus ribesii hoverfly of the year.
Oak buds are just beginning to open.
The Taphrina betulinum gall showing that the infected growth still produces leaves.