Wool Carder Bees in the garden
We have observed and identified a wide range of bees in our garden, but in July 2019 we noticed an unfamiliar solitary bee –around 10mm long - nectaring on a plant of Rusty Foxglove (Digitalis ferruginea) (photo 1)..
Referring to the Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland (Falk, 2015) we identified it as a male Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium manicatum). Researching its natural history, we discovered that the common name comes from the fact that the females (which, unusually for solitary bees, are smaller than the males) gather plant hairs to line and plug their nest holes.
Sadly we were unable to find females, but were amused by the behaviour of the male which spent a great deal of time patrolling the area around the Foxglove plants. According to Falk the males are aggressively territorial, defending their territory by head-butting, stabbing with the sharp points on their abdomen and even killing other bees.
Further research revealed that favourite plants for the females are Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) (photo 2) and Lamb’s Ear (Stachys byzantina), both of which (especially Lamb’s Ear) have silky hairs on their leaves. We decided to buy a plant of Lamb’s Ear the next spring and observe it closely. However before we could do this Covid struck and we were in lockdown! We didn’t see any Wool Carder Bees during 2020.
In 2021, when released from lockdown, we purchased a vigorous specimen of Lamb’s Ear and placed it in a large pot in what seemed a good place for both the bees and ease of photography. As soon as it began to flower a male Wool Carder Bee arrived and took up station on the plant, basking on the leaves, (photo 3) nectaring (photo 4) and driving away other bees (solitary and bumblebees) from the plant and from neighbouring Salvias.
Unusually one of the males spent several minutes nectaring on a flower spike at the same time as a worker White-tailed Bumblebee without driving it away (photo 5).
After a week or so a second male and two females appeared; they initially nectared, (photo 6) while the males engaged in aerial combat with each other and on two occasions a male paired with a female (photo 7)
Once mated the females began collecting plant hairs from the undersides of basal leaves but later moved higher up the plant, making it easier to record their behaviour. I was able to photograph them cutting the hairs off the leaves and stems (photo 8) and then gathering them up into a ball (photo 9).
When a female had gathered sufficient plant hairs she would fly vertically up the plant stem (possibly an orientation flight?) before disappearing to another part of the garden. We were sadly unable to find nesting sites.
By the end of July the plant had finished flowering and the bees, which are single-brooded, had disappeared.
Reference:
Falk, S; Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland. Ilustrated by Richard Lewington. Bloomsbury 2015. ISBN 978-1-910389-03-4.
