Hymenoptera in Hiding?

I visit my local patch/dog walking patch pretty much daily, so I'm pretty tuned in to its ways. Its not exactly the most biodiverse place in the world, but its still relatively new - 20 years ago it was intensively managed farmland - so it has time yet. Flower wise, there's not usually too much to see. Buttercups, Common Spotted and Northern (I think) Marsh Orchids, Herb Robert, Cuckoo Flower and Ragged Robin are some of the most abundant species at the moment, and some have been on show in good numbers over the last few days.

Just a sample of the wildflowers around at the moment

 The photo above shows just a small patch of the flowers that are out at the moment - the main species is obviously Buttercup, but there is some Ragged Robin in there as well as the odd Cuckoo Flower and Orchid. You can see the buttercups extend well into the adjacent horse paddocks.

Hawthorn in bloom

There is also a significant bloom of Hawthorn blossom at the moment and, as most of the hedgerows were retained when the site was planted up, there's quite a bit of it about too.

These photos were taken on Bank Holiday Monday just gone, the weather was overcast with sunny spells, but it was warm and still.

So, what am I getting at? Well, with all those factors considered I would have expected to see good numbers of insects, particularly bees and hoverflies, whizzing around all over the place. I honestly didn't see a single bee. I did see a couple of Speckled Wood butterflies and two Holly Blue butterflies, but nothing on the Hymenoptera front. Even just two or three years ago this place would have been buzzing, literally, at this time of year.  I know lots of people are quite worried about the decline of bees and this just backs up their concerns.