Ashy Mining Bee

Posted by Jon on Mar 27, 2011 in Wild bees | 0 comments

Earlier in the season we disturbed a little Ashy Mining bee whilst doing some earthworks around the house. Our dry, crumbly earth  has been disturbed in many places by our resident moles, providing the perfect habitat for several types of mining bees. We’ve been having a great start to Spring here (hence the lack of posts!) so all the bees are out and preparing for the year ahead.

We saw this tiny Ashy Mining bee laden with pollen checking out possible places to nest and watched her as she dug her way in….

(click to enlarge)

We’ve seen these solitary bees on the violets and common field speedwell as well as on the plum and cherry blossom. They don’t stop for long on each flower and spend a long time flying around between stops. Getting photos of them feeding is proving hard as they are both timid and fast!

If you want to find out more about this bee, check out the info sheet on BWARS.