Garden Spring insects

[colincurry]

I was pottering about in the garden on a very sunny Sunday looking for creatures to photograph.

These colourful insects prsented themselves as harrbingers of Spring - and most welcome they are

Small tortoiseshell



A white tailed bumblebee



A red tailed bumblebee



A Painted Lady



And what I take to be a honey bee



All of these pictures were taken hand held with a 30D and 100-400 L IS USM.

Colin

[Laurence Clemons]

I think the last one is not a honey bee but a male Anthophora plumipes.

[Kayleigh]

Gorgeous shots

[nutmeg]

Lovely collection of shots - I'm loving seeing insects out and about again

(Your painted lady is a peacock! )

[eucera]

The "white tailed bumble" could be Bombus lucorum... or even its very close sibling B. cryptarum. I wouldn't like to say. It could even be a worker of B. terrestris

The bumble with the red tail is Bombus lapidarius (one of several red-tailed species we have in UK)

The last pic is, as Laurence suggests, a male Anthophora plumipes.

[Toby]

Nice butterfly photos, look like natural light. The 'Painted Lady' is of course a Peacock.

[colincurry]

Thanks for the replies - of course it is a Peacock - 'p' aliteration is my excuse. I shall have to mind my Ps and Qs

I confess that I know very little about bees.

Colin