Rare Visitor …
… to my garden. The Neon Cuckoo Bee lays her egg in a Blue Banded Bee’s nest and the BBB provisions it for the NCB. This may account for an apparently hostile relationship when both approach the same roost at sundown, maybe not. Maybe they just squabble over top spot on the grass stem, as the BBB seem to do amongst themselves.
Either way she is a real beauty, black and blue set against the yellow flowers. No complete body shots, she was too busy feasting, but nevertheless a treat for the observer that sees, that resonates in a place in the uncontaminated psyche where nature comes from.
A pleasure to me.
© Mark Berkery ……. Click those pictures for a closer look
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Nature's Place 
Great shots Mark, inspiring.
Thanks Peter.
Lucky you! What a beauty. Glad you got to see her. These bees sound like the insect equivalents of cowbirds, for whom I have a grudging admiration.:)
Yes I am, she is. They both have someone else rear their young. I wonder if they recognise their own when they leave the nest.
I love your photographs! What a beautiful bee! I think Hymenoptera might be my favourite order. Maybe you want to check out my blog? Nature nerds unite! http://inkfromthequill.com/
Thanks Steph. She is a beauty. I like your blog, fitting name too.
What a beauty. I was recently reading about the cuckoo bees declining because their hosts are declining. Sad. Everything is inextricably linked.
Indeed, a beauty. And times and things seem to be changing more rapidly now, a tide of karma about to come crashing …. perhaps.
Wow, beautiful! I’ve never seen anything like that! Thanks!
Thanks Mary.
It is a truly spectacular colour. It reminds me of a bee, Epeolus fallax that I get in my garden, it is a cuckoo bee too, however, it is just black and white where yours is neon blue. Such a distance separates them but they are similar and different. I hope it will come back to the garden in the summer. Amelia
Hi Amelia. We have other cuckoo bees here – https://beingmark.com/2010/05/15/domino-cuckoo-bee/ – may be something more like yours.
Yes, that’s just like mine!
For it to be visiting your garden there must be the kind of bees it lives off nesting there. So as long as you have nests for it to use it will be back. I’ve just cleared a part of the garden and thinking of putting some suitable material for bees to build nests in or of, other than the ones I already have nesting. Different materials/sites means different bees.
They don’t seem to mind sharing nesting spots either. I have more than one species of Osmia nesting in my cut bamboo while others are in the trunk drilled with holes just beneath it. I have added bundles of a dried shrub that has a hollow stem and tiny bees use that.
How lovely. We don’t have many (if any?) blue bees in the UK so it’s exciting to see them on your blog.
Thanks Emily. They are wonderful looking creatures …
Yes just read all about it in a post my niece sent me from Western Australia, from the Kwongan Foundation, isn’t nature just wonderful, I have seen these in my garden at first I thought I was seeing things, did not realise there was a blue bee, they are so lovely to see busy little bees in and around us doing an amazing job.
Thank you Mark for your lovely photos of them & all that you post to us.
Happy New Year to you & happy hunting too, regards Janice Marshall
Thanks Janice. Yes, they are a treat to the eye.
All the best to you too Janice. M
Beautiful capture. You’re getting good value out of those Buddleias attracting insects Mark :) Mine are still tiny but some have started blooming.
Thanks Lissa. Yes, I am. I am finding the ones I planted late are slow to grow but flower anyway. Those planted early took off in our spring, I suspect they will do it again in autumn – maybe. I think they don’t like the hot summer.
That gives me hope that mine will do better in the cooler seasons.
WOW so beautiful and amazingly designed
Indeed they are.
Amazing shots! Thanx for a real treat! I like the first one best :O)
Thanks … Yes, in the first you can see most of the eye, makes a difference.