Spring 2020 Solitary Bees

It's been a while, but with coronavirus rampant and time on my hands, I've been finding lots of new stuff in the garden.

Hairy-footed Flower Bee male

First up, but not new to the garden, just the first time I've managed to get a good photo of a male hairy-footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes).  The male gives the species its name and is normally found darting about guarding or trying to mate with the females.  I don't understand the term 'flower bee' because it is  actually a mining bee, and all bees forage on flowers.  I guess it may be to distinguish them from the Andrena species.

The chocolate mining bee (Andrena scotica) - named for its colour rather than its diet, is a fairly plain brown bee with little else to distinguish it from other solitary bee species.  I thought this female was a Buffish Mining Bee (A. nigroaenea) going by the longish hair and buffish colour, but it has been identified as A. scotica.  It has a two-toned scopa (hind leg where the pollen goes) whereas the A. nigroaenea would have had an orange one.

Chocolate Mining Bee female

This male Chocolate mining bee is carrying some mud on the back of his thorax which probably came from the hole he was born in.

Chocolate Mining Bee male

The female tawny mining bee (Andrena fulva) is not a new species and is a common species, I've just never had such a clear shot before.  It is resting on Pieris, a great plant for early spring forage for a range of species.

Tawny Mining Bee female

The red mason bee (Osmia bicornis) is a regular resident in our bee hotels and emerges slightly later than the Andrena species shown above. 

Red Mason Bee female (Black hair on face)

Red Mason Bee male (Pale hair on face)

I was actually putting up a new bee hotel and one female was investigating the holes even before I had it screwed together and on the wall.




































One group of solitary bees that is not welcome in the bee hotels, at least as far as the residents are concerned, are the nomad bees.  They are not welcome because they are cuckoo bees and will lay their eggs alongside those of their unwitting host, which when it hatches will eat the egg or larva of the host.  They are a difficult group to identify, but I've managed to sort out identification for two of the common ones shown here.

Marsham's Nomad Bee (Nomada marshamella)

Gooden's Nomad Bee (Nomada goodeniana)

The Blackthorn Mining Bee (Andrena varians) was a new species for the garden, as was Trimmer's Mining Bee (Andrena trimmerana).  Perhaps if I spend more time searching out new species, identification will get easier, but then again...

Blackthorn Mining Bee female

Trimmer's Mining Bee female