Bee-watching is a wonderful distraction from the stresses of life. I can definitely recommend it for a warm, sunny afternoon as spring turns to summer.
Bee among Mullein flowers. Yes, it is there! About halfway up, to the right of the plant’s stem.
Bumblebees seem to love California poppies. Most of them are black with yellow heads and a nifty yellow stripe across the bum. There are also some fuzzy-looking yellow-brown ones, but I didn’t get any pictures of them. (Taking decent pictures of bees is hard).
Note the bum stripe!
Possibly a wasp in the pink California poppy.
Honeybees favour the lavender almost exclusively. (And being smaller and a subdued orange-brown colour, they don’t show up well).
The bee is in the centre of the picture, to the right of the red of geranium flowers in the background. Enlarge and you will see it.
Note: bee-watching is not relaxing when the watcher is trying to take pictures of the bees. For best results, leave the camera/phone in the house!
Audrey Driscoll's Blog 
I often forget to take photos of things that catch my attention, until it’s too late … too busy enjoying the view, I suspect. 😀
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That’s the way it often is. Better to enjoy the moment than try to get a picture, in most cases. The thing about bees is as long as there are flowers for them to visit, you can watch them, and then try to take pictures.
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I once worked in a garden centre at the height of summer and the bees would be everywhere, getting on with their job. They left me alone, I left them alone and we all got on great!
In my new job I’m pushing to reintroduce native black bees to a local nature reserve; would be great to see them buzzing around in the wild again.
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I used to be scared of bees (actually just about all insects) when I was young, but now I think of bees as Friends of the Garden. Considering that there are beehives in hotel roof gardens so chefs can use the honey (really local), your idea to reintroduce bees to a nature reserve is a great idea. I didn’t know Britain has native black bees — but then, why not? Just in my garden I see quite a variety of different types, from tiny wasps to great big bumblebees.
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