Plant identification

[Edwardking]

View attachment 10853Help! I've been visiting the beautiful Port Marine in Portishead and there's big bushes of these plants all over the marina, covered in bees. Can anyone tell me what it is?

 

[YorkshireBees]

View attachment 10853Help! I've been visiting the beautiful Port Marine in Portishead and there's big bushes of these plants all over the marina, covered in bees. Can anyone tell me what it is?

No idea about the plant but that's a Bee Fly I believe.

 

[bontbee]

Not sure what the plant is, but that's not one of the bees that's been working it...

Beat me to it YB! 'Cept I thinks it's a hover fly. This is the bee fly:

 

[REDWOOD]

Looks like a shrub I have in my garden, flowers in April and sometimes again in September, sorry forgot the name.

 

[REDWOOD]

Choisya, remembered

 

[bontbee]

ahh, that's the one. I was thinking of Philadelphus, but that flowers much earlier.

 

[JohnyP]

Beeflies are out in April / May and I don't think they have a second brood...

 

[Edwardking]

Thanks everyone! Now I know what to ask for at the garden centre tomorrow.
And for those trying to identify the bee - it's a honey bee, AMM.

 

[bontbee]

Hi EK, did it get it's antennae and hind wings chewed off then?!

 

[Edwardking]

Hi EK, did it get it's antennae and hind wings chewed off then?!

It's just a poor photo! Next time I'll ask her to pose in a different position - she wasn't listening this time. I'll seek her out tomorrow and have a quiet word with her.

 

[bontbee]

sorry I see lots and lots of pics of this insect, being referred to as bees. The eyes aren't right and I think she lost her pollen baskets too!! (I know that on the one below has an apparently different shaped abdomen, but I think that yours has hers/his tucked downwards).
A awful lot of beekeepers think they are bees, too, until they look more closely. There was a previous post showing a plant covered in these flies, which I did query, but didn't push the point.

 

[JohnyP]

I agree. It's definitely not a bee. We have Asters completely covered in these bee-mimics at the moment. Could it be one of these on this page?

http://www.gardensafari.net/english/hoverflies.htm

 

[bontbee]

great site, thanks

 

[Swarm]

Ain't no bee, one look at the head will tell you that ... and take a look at those legs.

 

[YorkshireBees]

Not sure what the plant is, but that's not one of the bees that's been working it...

Beat me to it YB! 'Cept I thinks it's a hover fly. This is the bee fly:

Bah meant to write hover fly.

Seeing loads on daisey looking plants in the field next to one of my apiaries at the moment! Thought it was my bees until I looked closer.