Ash blonde

It doesn't take long for the male Hairy-footed Flower Bees to lose their bright chestnut colouring and fade to an insipid elegant ash blonde (much like my own). By now they're hanging around the pulmonaria like a phantom horde, and I'm sadly aware that their days are numbered - already the females outnumber them, and every day the balance seems to shift a little further. 

They haven't yet given up on life though: this individual also appears in my extra, stalking one of the females with a view to a pounce. While I was focused on him I couldn't actually see what he was looking at, though he was hovering in such an intent way that I thought there must be a potentially unmated female close by, and when I checked the uploaded images I was amused to see that his target was on the point of exiting stage left, close to the top of the frame. A few seconds later I saw him catch up with her, and a brief tussle ensued before she shrugged him off - at which point he calmly went back to feeding.

I've posted so many Hairy-feet already this season that I almost went with a mason bee today, but as long as the male plumpies are still around it's hard for me to resist them. The females have never had the same 'wow' factor for me, and I'll miss the boys terribly when they're gone.