Winter Bee coming !!

The last few days have seen temperatures dropping, the weather forecasters have threatened that  severe weather is not far away, winter's coming.

This will probably be the last look at the Bee's for this year, the Ivy in the garden is now in full bloom, activity seems frantic around the flower heads.

Ivy Bees are the most numerous, as you would expect at this time of year, there emergence timed to perfection to match the flowering period of Ivy which they almost exclusively forage on, this is late September to mid November, a very short life span of about six weeks.

Surprisingly there are still a few Bumblebee's on the wing, hibernation for the new queens must
 surely be beckoning.There are a few Bumblebees still around, I think these are mainly Buff Tailed and White Tailed. It's quite difficult to tell as they seem to be covered in pollen from the Ivy flowers.

Bumblebee with Ivy Bee

There appears to be plenty of pollen to go around, in the short time I was watching, I managed to pick out Drone Fly, Common Wasp, Carder Bee, Honey Bee as well as the few Bumblebee's shown above.

Drone Fly

I thought the Bee below might be something interesting, appearing quite grey on the abdomen, but in retrospect I think it's probably a Carder Bee.

Carder Bee ?

Common Wasp

Ivy Bee

Ivy Bee & Honey Bee

I have really enjoyed seeing the different species of Bee around the garden this year. the Ivy has been a real Bee magnet to finish off the years sightings, considering the fact, that I used to trim the Ivy at the end of summer in past years, removing the flower heads because I thought they looked unruly.
 What a mistake that was, I now know better.