I only started noticing solitary bees in the recent 2-3 years period in my own garden. I knew about them from documentaries about these pollinators of orchids in Costa Rica and later from The Secrets of Nature Youtube video about them springing to life with the thawing of winter snow in Europe.
There are an astounding 22,000 species of solitary bees around the world, some of which are specialists with very unique and quirky traits. Some exist in particular niche that doesn't exist anywhere else pollinators for a specific plants or flower of particular color and species.
The closest I came to these intriguing creatures are the ones in my garden frequenting the few flowering trees we have every spingtime. I starting capturing videos of them starting 2019 but this year I've managed to take notice of the flowering period and started taking these images.
So far I think I can confirm three species in our garden to the best of my knowledge, there are definitely more but it's a start. Photohraphing them is not exactly easy but I tried the best I can with the following gear :
-Tamron 180/3.5 Macro with 14mm extension tube
-Canon EF300/2.8 wit 14mm extension tube
-Canon EF400/4.0 with 1mm extension tube.
The species in the garden so far as I can tell:
Tree Bumblebee - Bombus hypnorum
White tailed Bumblebee - Bombus lucorum
Red tailed Bumblebee - Bombus lapidarus
I should get some additional literature to learn more about these critters for sure.
A great website for solitary bees id : UK Bumblebee Species Guide
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