eine Blüte anfliegen

18:00 Oct 14, 2019 

Many askers don't bother. However, others regard the occasion as an opportunity to provide feedback on their decision, some even showing how the answer chosen was incorporated into their final version. A vote of thanks to all contributors is not obligatory.

06:42 Oct 8, 2019 

is the snag, in my opinion. The insects do not repeatedly visit/collect pollen from a single blossom. We're talking about a type of blossom and, for lack of other options, many pollinating insects were attracted to the pumpkin blossom. Increasingly, is therefore incorrect here as an adverb, but acceptable as an adjective - an increasing number of pollinating insects were attracted to the pumpkin blossom. "Verstärkt" is a typical German redundancy and does not belong in the translation (at least not as increasingly). So sue me.

20:56 Oct 7, 2019 

I guess I should have posted the d-box entries. I could have given you a run for your money.

As an aside, more than one link below points to a science paper, unless that is also considered "non-technical."

23:07 Oct 4, 2019 

There are 31 instances of "visit" or "visits" in this government brochure: https://secure.iowadot.gov/lrtf/docs/pollinatorsiniowa.pdf

Except for the last one, all of them are in reference to "flower visits." Here's the USDA's version of a children's book:
"Pollinators visit flowers to collect pollen or the sweet liquid called nectar. As they visit the flowers, the pollinators brush against the reproductive parts of the flower, dropping the pollen from another flower they recently visited."
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_0...

Indiana Department of Natural Resources:
"Clump plants so the bees can find and visit many flowers in one location"
https://www.in.gov/dnr/entomolo/files/ep-Gardening_for_Honey...

U.S. National Park Service:
"Another way many species of bees can coexist in a small space is to visit only certain species of flowers. About one-fourth of the Park’s bees are such specialists, visiting only one species or a group of closely related species of flowers."
https://www.nps.gov/pinn/learn/nature/bees.htm

This may not be the only instance of anfliegen in Veronika's book, so I think you can keep this as an option.

Best

22:52 Oct 4, 2019 

Had to change a few words, I apologize. As always, I'm typing too fast and this preview screen is too small.

22:48 Oct 4, 2019 

In a way, the BBC even combines your attract and my visit:
"In restored sites, plants produced more flowers and attracted more visits from pollinating animals, which was linked with the production of more fruit."
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38800967

South East Wales:
"Standard pollinator observation techniques can be used to quantify visits to flowers, which provide a measure of the pollinator availability."
https://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/app/uploads/2016/12/GIAPP.p...

University of Greenwich:
"Pollinator visits to flowers were much more frequent than by robbers but visits correlated negatively with nectar alkaloid concentration and declined sharply between 200-380ppm."
https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/17458/3/17458 STEVENSON_Dis...

Thus, I think yours is much more common, though at least this suggestion is not that unusual.

Best wishes

22:43 Oct 4, 2019 

I cross-posted, basically (and I agree with "attract"). I posted in the d-box because I only wanted to give Veronika some options. I was cautious when it came to the verb (may be), but yes, there are very few examples.

The point about "approach" was that it really depends on the sentence (it sounds fine in the Guardian article).

As for visit (preferrably as a noun), here's the Botanical Society of the British Isles:
"Clearly pollinator visits to flowers of S. romanzoffiana during our time on Colonsay were infrequent."
https://archive.bsbi.org.uk/BSBINews106.pdf

Or The London Beekeepers' Association:
"It is estimated that honey bees need to fly 55,000 miles and make 4 million visits to flowers to produce a single pot of honey."
http://www.lbka.org.uk/forage.html

The Telegraph:
"...the former detective who invented the technique, have now used it to analyse patterns of visits to flowers made by foraging bees."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/334836...

[...]

22:29 Oct 4, 2019 

to frequent (verb) gardens - sure
to visit flowers (and pay their respects) - hmm...
to approach a flower (and then back off when rebuffed) ...

22:23 Oct 4, 2019 

As for"the usual expression," there are several possibilities, such as

"approaches a flower"
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/feb/21/bees-flo...

"visits a flower"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_is...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zy66fg8/articles/zx4kt...

In your case, "frequent" as a verb may be an option:
"There are a large number of small solitary bees that also frequent domestic gardens e.g. masonary bees, mining bees etc."
https://www.trafford.gov.uk/residents/environment/pest-contr...

"Researchers have therefore been analysing which pollinators frequent certain crops..."
https://thefruitgrower.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/magazines/ma...

Or frequent visitors (to combine two of the suggestions above):
"While honeybees were the most frequent visitors to flowers of all species,
native bees made more visits to common than rare species..."
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/42749696.PD...

Cf. https://getgardening.richardjacksonsgarden.co.uk/love-lavend...

Best