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Tag Archives: solitary bees

Mining bees

08 Tuesday Apr 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Andrena species, Andrenidae, bees, British bees, mining bees, solitary bees

Mining bees, the Adrenidae, are notoriously difficult to identify I find, and, as my brain is already swimming with factors to consider when identifying spiders (and other life stuff that is happening in the background), I don’t have the mental capacity to tackle bees at the moment. Maybe they can be next year’s project.

In the meantime though, I can still appreciate how exceedingly cute they are, especially when they sit still for a few moments (which isn’t often) and allow me to get some close up photos (also not often).

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Bee volcanoes

06 Wednesday Apr 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British bees, mining bee nests, mining bees, solitary bee nests, solitary bees, tiny piles of dirt

I can’t take the credit for the title of today’s post: by sheer coincidence, after returning from a walk with photos of these tiny dirt mountains, I spotted a tweet about the mini volcanoes of the bee Andrena fulva, and it seemed a very appropriate description. Mine may not be the work of that same bee species but they do indicate where solitary bees have dug out nest burrows for their young. I’m not sure whether these bee volcanoes are from newly hatched bees emerging from their winter nests or these volcanoes have only recently been excavated for the adult bees to lay this year’s eggs.

220406 solitary bee nest (1)
220406 solitary bee nest (2)
220406 solitary bee nest (3)

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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