Dear Readers, if you live in the south of England you might have noticed these little chaps whizzing about when the sun is out, as it is today. This is a male hairy-footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes), and if you watch for a while you’ll see that they are feisty little critters – this one saw off a queen bumblebee who must have been three times his size. In this species the males emerge first, from eggs that were laid last year, and they set up a territory around a promising-looking patch of flowers. This hebe bush has been a favourite stopping off point for bees ever since we arrived in East Finchley more than fifteen years ago. Long may it remain, because it’s in a south-facing garden, and so the bees are drawn to its warmth. Plus, warm conditions mean  that nectar flows more easily, and so the bees can get the energy that they require quickly.

The males have distinctive white faces, and are very ‘buzzy’ – their flight has a high-pitched whine. But they aren’t just hanging around the flowers for food: they know that the females, who emerge later, will need to feed, and this gives the males a chance to mate with them. You would think (as I did initially) that the females are a completely different species: they are jet black and look more like bumblebees.

Female hairy-footed flower bee

But why are they described as ‘hairy-footed’? Well, have a look at the wonderful photo below, of a live bee taking off…’hairy-legged’ might be a better description.

Male Hairy-footed Flower Bee (Photo By gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K – Male Hairy-footed Bee. Anthophora plumipes, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50578878)

When people talk about bees, they tend to think of honeybees, or, at a pinch, bumblebees. But there are hundreds of other species of bee in the UK, some of them hyper-local, and with a very short flight season. I always think of the hairy-footed flower bees as the first to emerge, at least in these parts, and the ivy bees to be the last, but this year I shall be keeping an eye open for all the species in the middle.

Maybe the most endearing feature of the hairy-footed flower bee is its habit of flying around with its tongue out, as if hoping to just run into an obliging flower without making any effort at all. Keep an eye out for this zippy sign of spring.