Swanky forelegs

"You know I've been going on about that bee with the swanky forelegs?" I said to R. "Well, I finally got some shots of him, and I'm trying to decide which one to use. Look at this."

"Oh yes," said R. "Those are definitely swanky forelegs."

"But," I said, I have other views too. This one...?"

'Mmmmm..." said R.

"Or this one...? Still pretty swanky."

"Mmm," said R.

"So, this one, then?"

"Yes," said R firmly. "That's the swankiest."

I think he's right that this moment, when Mr M. willughbiella was stepping backwards out of the pea flower and preparing to fly away, gave me the best view of his pale, fringed, expanded forelegs. But I've included a second photo from the beginning of the same sequence (when I was still far enough away for f/11 to keep all of him in focus), which shows that all six of his legs have quite a bit of that Look at Me thing going on. He also has some rather spiffy white mutton-chop whiskers, and a white Einstein moustache. All in all I find it inexplicable that the girls aren't all over him like a rash, but they seem to be finding him quite resistible - though sadly I hesitated a spilt second too long, and missed an earlier photo opportunity of him hovering behind a female, before pouncing, and being violently shaken off. Nevertheless, he persists.

By the way, that notched end to the abdomen is common to males of all three of the UK Megachile species that have swanky forelegs. But the other two species are both coastal, and one of them - Megachile circumcincta - is rare. M. maritima is bigger than Mr Willughby here, and also has swollen hind legs, and M. circumcincta is smaller, looking more like a mason bee than a leafcutter.

Apart from finally getting a Willughby to sit still for me for five seconds, the most notable thing about my day was that I spent most of it in St James' Church in Chipping Campden, taking part in a Come and Sing day. This morning I was tired and my joints were flaring a bit, and I was seriously grumpy about having committed to attend, but as it turned out it was great fun, so I'm very glad I womaned up and went. As well as working up Vivaldi's Gloria we had a workshop in singing technique from Alison Chamberlain, the CBSO Chorus vocal coach, which was hugely informative and useful, and at the end of the day we put on a scratch performance of the Gloria for family and friends, with three lovely young soloists from the Conservatoire. A good time was had by all.