The garden March 2022

It was actually the 26 February that I saw my first male Osmia cornuta.

It was not until 19 March that I saw the first female. She reminds me a bit of Winnie the Poo trying to get into Rabbit’s hole. She is much more substantially built than her mate and he has had to wait a long time for her to hatch out, as usual.

She gets straight onto the task of laying eggs and providing each one with enough stores of pollen to grow into a new bee. She goes in head first with her load of pollen neatly attached to her hairy abdomen and then comes out after she has pressed the pollen in place with her head, still with the pollen grains adhering to her.

I have not seen as many of these bees as in previous years.

Kourosh discovered a suspect tiny hill of soil just outside our front door and marked it for me with some twigs. As I passed by this morning, I noticed the soil quiver – just as I had seen molehills move on occasion.

The hole is completely covered in the evening so I quickly rushed in for my camera and sat to wait. I was rewarded by the appearance of this little head. After a few tentative ups and downs, she eventually flew out.

I think she might be an Andrena fulva. I usually see her later on the raspberries so I would be interested in what she favours at the moment. I will keep my eyes open for her now.

We have discovered another bulb worth planting in pots to attract the bees. Puschkinia are like mini Hyacinth but their flowers are more open for the bees. In addition they are gently perfumed. I find them a little small and pallid but if you like to attract pollinators to your patio you might like to try them.

All the bees have a huge amount of pollen to choose from at this time. The Willow is just about finished but the woods are full of white Sloe blossom. Gardens are full of flowering fruit trees and our honeybees are working hard bringing in the pollen.

Check out this video (16 secs.) to see the different colours of pollen they are bringing in https://youtu.be/nX3C_QTvvYM. And now HERE is the correctly posted video. Thank you Ann and Julian :).

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Andrena fulva in my blackcurrant flowers

Andrena fulva female 25.4.13

I spotted a female Andrena fulva female in my blackcurrant flowers on the 25 April 2013, exactly a day later than I had seen my first one the previous year.

25 April 2013

I look forward to my blackcurrants flowering because I am sure to see this beautiful mining bee feeding from the nectar.

I have never noticed the male who is harder to spot as he doesn’t sport the same brightly coloured coat but resembles more non de-script Andrenas.  He does have a pronounced tuft of white hair on his face so I will be on the look out for him this year.

These bees are spring flying bees and will feed on pear, cherry and apple blossom.  I have all of the latter trees in my garden and I watch and photograph the bees with a great interest in the spring but I have only seen the Andrena fulva on the blackcurrant flowers!  Again I will be watching even more carefully this year but they are not bees you could miss easily.

Perhaps, she prefers the pollen or finds it in a more generous supply.

She lets me get quite close up to photograph her as she is so involved in securing the nectar but in the end she gives me a warning wave of her leg  to indicate I’ve got quite close enough.

I took this photograph in May, some of the bushes were still flowering and I felt sorry for this bee who had got a little wet.  Once my blackcurrants stop flowering my Andrena fulva desert me.

They are mining bees and could be tempted to nest in my “lawn” or the nearby bare areas as the sandy soil should suit them but although several types of mining bees that have taken up residence, I have not seen Andrena fulva nesting.

This is my first Andrena and my sixth bee identified.

Have you seen Andrena fulva on any fruit trees?