Blue-banded Bee

This morning I decided I would finish the book I was reading so I found a comfortable spot in the garden and then along came a couple of these native bees. They are larger than a commercial bee and have quite a loud buzz but they are very scatty and don't settle on flowers for any length of time.  I thought it was worth attempting to get a photo.

After well over an hour of hearing a buzz, putting down the book, picking up the camera, heading towards the bee, bee flying off, back to the book for a couple of minutes then going through the routine again and again I decided this was the best image I could capture.  Out of the two bees the other one had much brighter blue bands but maybe next time.

Blue-banded bees are solitary and are good pollinators.  They live in burrows in clay soil often under houses and often quite a few can live together.  They are amongst our most beautiful bees for more details.