Know Your Solitary Bees

A few months ago, I discovered the shocking truth: most bees are solitary! I've been enthralled by these stereotype-busting essential insects ever since.

When I discovered that the 1st of July is Solitary Bee Poetry Day (just one event in the exciting schedule of Solitary Bee Week), I just had to participate.

Here, in haiku, is your guide to some easily-identified solitary bees. Click on their names to find out more about each species.

Blue Carpenter Bee (Ceratina Cyanea)

Bet you didn't know

Bees can be blue, and buried

In beds of bramble.

Tawny Mining Bee (Andrena Fulva)

Fluffy red females

With undistinctive boyfriends

Wrecking your garden.

European Wool-Carder Bee (Anthidium Manicatum)

Chunky and grumpy;

Non-monogamy can cause

Jealousy issues.

Hairy-footed Flower Bee (Anthrophora Plumipes)

Hobbit on your hearth?

Help him. Have you never had

a slight nap mishap?

(N.B: This article's featured pic is a male emerging from his nest.)

Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena Cineraria)

White-haired, black bodied,

glossy girls sleep until May,

deep down in the ground.

Harebell Carpenter Bee (Chelostoma Campanularum)

Small slinky models

Fussy eaters but they will

burrow with beetles.

Ivy Bee (Colletes Hederae)

More males than females;

you can picture the fuss on

sight of a lady.

Red Mason Bee (Osmis Bicornis)

This one has horns! It's

demolishing a church. Are

we...sure it's a bee?

If you want to try your hand at your own solitary bee poetry, find out how to participate here.

You can read my solitary bee sonnet, Working All Summer, here.

My original mind-blown discovery of solitary bees is over on my blog, here. If you have any comments on solitary bees, solitary bee poetry, or anything related, you can also leave them there.