
This morning (Saturday 5 July 2014) I had a look in the Hollyhocks and saw two Tetralonia bees still not properly awake at 8 a.m. They are not early risers.

As I bent to take the photograph from a different angle I noticed that there were three! It had been a rainy night with cooler overnight temperatures so I wonder whether its warmer to share your hollyhock shelter with others?
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Born in Scotland I have lived in England, Iran, USA and Greece. The house and land was bought twelve years ago in fulfilment of the dream of living in France that my Francophile husband nurtured. We had spent frequent holidays in France touring the more northerly parts and enjoying the food, scenery, architecture and of course gardens. However, we felt that to retire in France and enjoy a more clement climate than we currently had in Aberdeen we would need to find somewhere south of the river Loire but not too south to make returning to visit the UK onerous.
The year 2000 saw us buying our house and setting it up to receive us and the family on holidays. The garden was more a field and we were helped by my son to remove the fencing that had separated the previous owners’ goats, sheep and chickens. We did inherit some lovely old trees and decided to plant more fruit trees that would survive and mature with the minimum of care until we took up permanent residence.
The move took place in 2006 and the love hate relation with the “garden” started.
There was so much to do in the house that there was little energy left for the hard tasks in the garden. It was very much a slow process and a steep learning curve. Expenditures have been kept to a minimum. The majority of the plants have been cuttings and I try to gather seeds wherever I can. The fruit trees have all been bought but we have tender hearts and cannot resist the little unloved shrub at a discount price and take it as a matter of honour to nurse it back to health.
This year I have launched my Blog hoping to reach out to other gardeners in other countries. My aim is to make a garden for people to enjoy, providing shady and sunny spots with plants that enjoy living in this area with its limestone based subsoil and low rainfall in a warm summer. Exchanging ideas and exploring mutual problems will enrich my experience trying to form my French garden.
July 5, 2014 at 10:33 pm
a nice place to sleep 🙂
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July 6, 2014 at 8:52 am
I love the idea of the bees tucked up in the flowers for the night! Amelia
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July 6, 2014 at 6:22 am
How lovely! Would it be ok if I use one of these photos in the Ealing Beekeepers Association’s next newsletter, along with your name and a link to your blog?
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July 6, 2014 at 8:54 am
You are very welcome to any of my photos. I post them on a reduced size so that they load up more quickly, if you need them in their original size I could Dropbox them to you. Amelia
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July 6, 2014 at 7:17 am
They had obviously been partying the night before!!
I think I’ve spotted these here…
or very similar…
bees with these very long antennae?
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July 6, 2014 at 9:05 am
That seems to be the obvious explanation now that you mention it!
The male has very long antenna. You get a similar bee Eucera longicornis in the U.K. they are closely related; Eucera have 2 sub-marginal cells and Tetralonia 3. Amelia
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July 6, 2014 at 9:18 am
Gorgeous! I have seen similar bees sleeping in the ‘blooms’ of my dogwood tree. Although they don’t seem to get together, precisely keeping to one bee, one ‘bloom’.
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July 6, 2014 at 9:58 am
That’s really interesting and I have some dogwood coming into flower so I’ll keep a look out to see if I can find any. Amelia
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July 8, 2014 at 2:29 pm
Smart of the bees to spend the night protected by the flower petals.
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July 9, 2014 at 7:08 am
This is a particularly common behaviour for this type of bee but I have often found bumble bees sheltering inside flowers. Amelia
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July 9, 2014 at 10:47 am
Clever bees to share bodily warmth!
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July 10, 2014 at 7:19 am
You can see the first signs of socialisation among some of the solitary bees. Some mining bees share nesting tunnels, the Tetralonia are sharing a comfortable night time gite. Amelia
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July 9, 2014 at 3:00 pm
You are very lucky to have spotted three bees on one flower, it makes for such a charming picture. Philip
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July 10, 2014 at 7:20 am
Some bees are cuter than others and I think the Tetralonia are very photogenic. Amelia
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