Bee stealing rose petals

[Choiseul88]

Hello all,

I saw some odd behaviour so thought I would seek out the experts!

Sat in the garden pruning some roses and I witnessed a bee land on a rose, chew off a section of petal (about 2x the size of the bee) and then fly away with it. About 10 minutes later it was back doing the same.

I'm not overly precious about the roses so would never harm the bee, on closer inspection I noticed a lot of the petals had parts missing.

Is this normal behaviour?

[AndrewLD]

Some solitary bees (i.e. not honeybees) use plant leaves and rose petals to make their nests. If it looked like a honeybee then it was almost certainly the "leaf cutter bee" (no really -that is what it is called).

[Choiseul88]

Many thanks.

I'm glad we're attracting all sorts of bees to our garden!

[Alfred]

Choiseul88-last yearI found cut leaves rolled up and stashed under the oMF's
Of course this lot wouldn't take me seriously and just made cigar jokes.....

[NigelP]

Where those leaves really rolled on the thighs of young virgin queens

[Alfred]

Not sure- but when I fired one up and took a drag the trees and plants and rabbits and stuff all turned purple,man.

[DianeBees]

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=829
And you can encourage them ... https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/making-a-home-for-leaf-cutter-bees/

[Steve 1972]

I have never seen them but they sound like amazing little insects.