Sharp Tailed Bee

Major excitement in the Garden this evening.  Home from work out into the back garden to watch my Leaf Cutter Bees (Megachile willughbiella) fill a few holes in my Bee log (see earlier post for description) Quite happy watching them bring back not just leaves but also   lovely bright red petals.  Then out of the blue, a bee that I have never previously encountered, the cuckoo bee Coelioxys (not sure what species).  Known as sharp tailed bees these chaps parisitise the nests of the leaf cutter.  Indeed I watched it entering the bees nests.  That's 4 species of bees in my log this year,  Osmia bicornis, Osmia Leaniana, A megachile's species and know Coelioxys species.  Other garden highlights today, the day flying moth the Blackcurrant Clearwing. 

Coelioxys bee on my house wall  - Carlton Notts, 09 July 2013.