Just to prove that bees other than the Hairy-feet do exist in my little world, this is an Early Bumblebee queen (Bombus pratorum), who finally allowed me some photos today at the third time of trying. It’s not just the fact that it’s so early in the season that makes me say she’s a queen, although I really wouldn’t expect either workers or males to appear until later this month. But Bombus pratorum is one of those useful bees in which the castes can be separated by their appearance: males are notable for having sweet little yellow faces, and the female workers are usually smaller and darker than this, with a yellow collar and a red tail, but lacking the yellow belt of the queens. I wrote about the nesting habits and life cycle of the Early Bumblebee here, if you’d like more information.
Today was something of a red letter day for R and me, being the 40th anniversary of our first proper date. This seems so unlikely – we can’t be that old, surely?? – that we had to check each other’s maths to make sure neither of us had used the wrong bit of the log tables, but once we’d accepted that, yes it was 40 years ago, and therefore yes, we are actually that old, we decided that the only possible response was a celebratory lunch. Vintner in Stratford did their usual excellent job for us, and we had a really nice time. Here’s to the next 40!
R: L2. C6, D3.
