HYMENOPTERA > APOCRITA | Aculeata > APOIDEA > Apidae

A large black bee with dark wings that have violet and blue reflections, which is widespread in Europe, but rarely recorded in Britain. In fact, this could well be one of the first ever seen in the country and, according to current records, possibly the first recorded in Dorset. The strange thing is that I didn’t even know that I’d photographed it until I found an old ‘unidentified bees’ folder whilst selecting photos for the site. As can be seen, it was photographed way back in 2005 and in normal circumstances would not have been used, but given its potential rarity it would have been a shame not to have included it. The photo was submitted to iRecord in October 2021 and was verified and accepted.