Patchwork

I spotted this fresh bee on the bramble growing at the edge of the Orchard Ponds in the Cleeve Prior Community Orchard, where I'd gone on a fruitless search for dragonflies, and recognised it as a male leafcutter. I couldn't take the identification any further than that at the time, but after consulting various sources, I'm fairly sure he's a Patchwork Leafcutter Bee (Megachile centuncularis).

In my own garden, not far down the road from this spot, the most common leafcutter is Megachile willughbiella, but males of that species have swankily ornate forelegs, as you can see in Steven Falk's species account. Last year I also recorded Megachile ligniseca, but males of that species are bigger than this individual, and have a notched end to the abdomen which (trust me) this little guy didn't have. 

The Patchwork Leafcutter Bee is common across the UK, especially in England and Wales, but it has been recorded as far north as the Scottish Highlands. It can make use of a variety of habitats, and is common in parks and gardens. It nests in existing holes or cavities, especially in sunny south-facing locations, and will use either natural cavities such as dead wood and hollow plant stems, or man-made structures such as air-bricks, or holes in walls and window frames. it readily makes use of bee hotels. Females will cut discs from the leaves of a number of different shrubs and trees, but in gardens they frequently use rose leaves. At the nest hole each individual egg is rolled into a leafy parcel, along with its own supply of pollen. When the nest is full, the female protects her young by sealing the entrance with several more discs of leaf.

This has reminded me of an encounter I had with a female Patchwork leafcutter last summer, and of the nest she left in one of the granddaughter posts of the fence. The last time I checked, it was still sealed, but now I know the leafcutters are emerging, I'll be keeping a closer eye on it to see if a new generation emerges.