Nomad bee and apple blossom

This little nomad bee Nomada sp. has a real liking for crab apple blossom in our garden.

These bees are cleptoparasites, laying their eggs in the nest holes of a mining bee while their host is still provisioning it with pollen, intended to sustain its own larva when its egg hatches.

The nomad bee larva hatches first, eating the host egg and then feeding on its stored pollen.

The light, sandy soil in our garden seems to suit mining bees well, but  parasitic nomad bees and bee-flies must surely limit their breeding success.

There are over 30 species of nomad bee in Britain, many rather similar in appearance, but I would hazard a guess that this might be Panzer's nomad bee Nomada panzeri which is one of the commonest, most widely distributed species.