A bee with pantaloons!

Guest blog by Matt Parrott, Visitor Experience Manager

Just before last Saturday’s brief, violent, summer storm the first reports of emerging bee-wolves reached us from our guide, Steve. If you’re unfamiliar with bee-wolves, they’re amazing, and you can read all about them in Ian’s blog here.

A bee-wolf in flight, carrying a honeybee, by Steve Everett

But on Sunday Steve and Davene reported that something new and very special had also appeared in the same spot on the North Wall – Pantaloon bees.

Quite frankly I’d never heard of such a thing, but it was already conjuring up some ridiculous images in my head! Davene took me down to patch of tiny holes along the North Wall where the bee-wolves, sand-wasps and various other digger wasps can be found.

After only a few minutes Davene’s expert eyes picked out something zipping along towards us, pointing to a tiny black and yellow shape moving like an out-of-control Scalextric car , before it slowed and landed next to a little patch of disturbed sand. Looking closely it was definitely a bee, with a mane of blonde fur extending from it’s eyes over it’s back to an abdomen of thick black bands. But the golden, furry, flared hind legs are clearly the defining feature of this species – and give it it’s popular name.

A pantaloon bee (aka hairy-legged mining bee) by Matt Parrott

It’s Latin name is Dasypoda hirtipes and technically known as a hairy-legged mining bee (but that just makes me think of hairy-legged miners, and it’s not a flattering association for this pretty little insect!). The pantaloon is the only species of it’s kind to live in the UK.

They have been drawn to this area of the reserve by two main reasons: the sandy soil for creating the tunnels it calls it’s home, and the proximity to it’s favourite flowers – ragwort, thistle and various daisy species. Only the females have the distinctive hairy legs, and use them for a very practical purpose for brushing the sand clear of their burrows. Males don’t have hairy legs and don’t do any sweeping (probably a joke in there somewhere!).

A female pantaloon bee "sweeping" her burrow entrance. You can watch a video of this behaviour by clicking here.

Inside their burrows the female lays her eggs and stock the tunnels with food to help them survive the winter, and ten months later the new bees will emerge. The adults themselves are only around between June and September, so right now is a good time to see them. I should also say that all of them are harmless to humans so don’t be concerned with them flying close to you

We’ve put out some ‘Look Here’ signs to help visitor see the bees and wasps on the North Wall, so please watch your step! Steve, Davene and our other guides will be around through the coming weeks to help point out these species and many more invertebrates, but if you’d like to improve your knowledge then why not book on to our dedicated ‘Minsmere’s eye-catching insects’ walk on 10 August, and invest in insect-watching equipment and guidebooks from our shop. Places are limited on this walk, so please call us on 01728 648281 to reserve yours. There's also a busy programme of guided walks and family activities throughout the summer. Click here for full details.