Some Nature Pictures I Took Recently - II (Seasonal Photos)

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I have yet to see a greenfinch. I have five goldfinches that come everyday though which always brings a smile to my face.

HoteiMarkii wrote: »

Megachile willughbiella (female): Love these beautiful Leaf-cutter bees. I've seen loads in the garden in recent days. I created a solitary bee hotel about two years ago, but had never seen anything go into it in that space of time. However, just this weekend, I saw a female Megachile willughbiella bring leaf cuttings into one of the bamboo burrows. She will create a small package/wrapping from leaf cuttings in which she will lay an egg; she will also deposit pollen within the package before sealing it up. The entrance to the burrow is then sealed up using a round leaf cutting. The pollen left within the leaf package will help feed the larva that will eventually hatch. I had wondered why I was seeing so many holes in the leaves of many of my shrubs and perennials!

I posted the above in this thread back in July of 2019 (post#220), expressing my delight at seeing solitary bees using a 'bee hotel' I'd built and placed in my garden a couple of years ago. I was looking at images on my camera this morning, which I'd taken last summer, and found the following:





Almost exactly one year later (July, 2020), I'd captured the moment when some of the young Megachile willughbiella started to emerge from their burrows in the 'bee hotel'. In my original post (#220; July 2019), I'd believed the species to be Megachile centuncularis for some reason, but now believe it to be Megachile willughbiella (Willoughby's Leafcutter bee), which is a more commonly seen species here.

Later the same day, some of the young M. willughbiella were seen foraging on Oxeye Daisy flowers in my garden:



A male Megachile willughbiella, foraging on Echinacea blossom in my garden in the summer of 2018. The males are more easily distinguishable because their front tarsi are whitish and expanded (not seen in this image):

Yeah, a Kestrel. The barring on the tail and the mark on the cheek is a giveaway.

DeadSkin wrote: »

I though the 6 bars on the tail are present in a female Merlin too?

Not the number of bars as such, but the spacing. The Kestrel's tail bars are narrower.

DeadSkin wrote: »

He/She has been hanging around the last few days from where I initially saw it, got a better(ish) picture today - Merlin or Kestrel :pac:

I haven't seen it hover like you would a Kestrel, it's going from post to post and into the grass.

Nice pic, 100% kestrel, if there was any doubt ;-)
Kestrels getting much scarcer these days, so lovely to see it.
Merlins do spend time on fenceposts etc, but when they do switch on, it's fast... they are much more dynamic hunters and chasers than the kestrel.