This curious little robust Wool Carder Bee is usually only seen in the Wildlife Garden at Rainham Marshes and in particular around the herb bed where it simply adores the flowering mint, especially the Lemon Balm. It is quite noisy and high piched and not disimilar to the sound that Shrill Carder Bee makes.
However, when you first see it hovering and buzzing madly around in front of you you think hoverfly! It is dark with a series of yellow triangles down the sides of the abdomen.
I checked out where it gets it name from and apparently it is from their habit of scraping hair from leaves such as lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina - which we have in the adjacent bed) which they carry off, bundled beneath their bodies, to be used as a nest lining. They are a species of leafcutter bee so look out for neat little sections removed from rose leaves and the like!
19-8-12