Violet Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa violacea) Photo By Pyrhan – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74415515)

Dear Readers, as you can imagine, over this past few weeks I’ve been spending a lot of time scrolling on the interwebs, and I have noticed that a number of gardens in the UK have been spotting this magnificent beast. This is a Violet Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa violacea), and it normally lives in mainland Europe and Asia. Recently, however, it has been spotted with increasing frequency in the UK, with a breeding record from Leicestershire in 2007, and sightings as far north as Northamptonshire.

How I wish a Violet Carpenter Bee would visit my garden! They are hugely imposing insects, over 3 cm long and with a rattling flight that can be very alarming. As you can see, it’s black with shimmering, iridescent blue/purple wings. In spite of its size, this is a very docile bee, which makes a nice change from all the bitey insects I’ve been featuring lately.

Whether the Violet Carpenter Bee will become established in the UK depends very much on the availability of habitat. The bee burrows into decaying wood in order to lay her eggs, which are provisioned with pollen. The adult bees also use old nest tunnels to hibernate over the winter. Alas, the bee is sometimes blamed for damaging houses but, as the wood needs to be rotten before they can use it, they are a sign of dereliction, not the cause. More decaying dead wood needs to be left around for all manner of insects, fungi and other organisms, rather than being endlessly tidied up.

Female Violet Carpenter Bee (Photo By Alvesgaspar – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2759893)

If you’ve holidayed on the Continent you may well have seen these magnificent bees buzzing past, and, like so many other insects, maybe they’ll arrive here in larger numbers soon. The photos don’t really do them justice, so here’s a rather lovely short film of them foraging.

Here’s the most recent map of their distribution in the UK. They really could turn up anywhere by the look of it! Keep your eyes peeled, people!

So, is there any creature that would make your day if you spotted it in the garden? Apart from the Violet Carpenter Bee, I’d be absolutely stoked with a stag beetle, an oak eggar moth, a praying mantis (most unlikely) or another emperor dragonfly, having had one visit a few years ago. Or I’d settle for a hedgehog – I suspect one is visiting, but haven’t actually seen it yet.

In other news, I am going to keep myself accountable by recording my daily steps here – 935 yesterday. I’m aiming to go for a walk down the street when my pal J gets here, and will hopefully get over the thousand mark. Yay! And yes, I am being sensible – as my physiotherapist said, ‘this is not a ‘no pain, no gain’ situation. I just want to try to do a little bit more every day.