Covered in Bees

If like me you are a fan of Eddie Izzard then you'd have probably read the title of this post in a particular way.

In my front garden there is a large hybrid Heather of some sort with a profusion of flowers thus:

 

...And when the sun is shining it is literally 'covered in bees'. Now normally I would just glance and think um, lots of bees on there, but I wouldn't really look. When I did really look I was surprised at the great variety of bees there are. Some are very difficult to identify, in fact most are very difficult to identify. Here are a few that I managed to capture on camera.

This one was very small only about 8mm long, I've no idea what it is though. Well apart from a Bee that is.

These are Ashy Mining Bees  Andrena cineraria apparently quite common but one I've never noticed before.

Honey Bee, with impressively full pollen baskets.

This was another new bee for me which I think is Andrena flavipes  named after its yellow hairy legs.

 Covered in pollen.

 Imposter! 

 Not a bee but a Drone Fly a Honey Bee mimicking Hover-fly.

I saw some more bees, butterflies and other interesting insects ( no birds of note though) on a walk along the shore near Axmouth Harbour earlier today, which I'll endeavour to get on here tonight or in the morning. Lastly, if you didn't get the Eddie Izzard reference (and want to ) then watch this: