I was in the garden this evening thinking the lawns could do with a bit of a trim and this Leaf-cutter Bee flew past me showings signs that she had already made a start on the hedges! I don't have a great deal of literature on Leaf-cutter Bees but this one does seem to show features consistent with the most common British species, the Patchwork Leaf-cutter Bee (Megachile centuncularis), notably the orange hairs on the underside of the abdomen.
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British Wildlife, Vol 10, Number 6. pp 388 - 393. Contains a key to all eight species of British Megachile species. Yu. A. Pesenko, J. Banaszak...
If you've not got I have.
Thanks Ian that's just the ticket. The photos don't seem to allow me to nail the ID conclusively but, the subject does appear closer to M. versicolor than my inclination towards M. centuncularis. Certainly the "orange hairs underneath" is of no use at all! More likely to be explained by pollen staining. If you, or anyone else, have any views on this matter I'd love to hear.
The orange hairs underneath are where it carries/stores the pollen in transit. A bit like the pollen baskets on bumblebee species.
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