Thursday, April 9, 2015

Mining bee ID?


This little bee was clinging to the washing when we brought it in from the washing line yesterday evening.

At first I thought it was the tawny mining bee Andrena fulva, but it seems that has black hairs in its face, not the white ones that this has. 

James McMillan @orchid_b kindly identified it for me as a red mason bee Osmia rufa.











13 comments:

  1. Great shots. It would have flown away had I got that close.

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    1. Sun had gone down and it was cold, which slowed it down a bit!

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  2. Could it be a colour variation within species or sex? I'm seeing lots of similar bees identified as Andrena fulva males on bee ID sites. (BWARS, etc.)

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    1. I find this small early solitary bees very confusing to ID!

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  3. Oops, sorry, I see it has been ID'ed.

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  4. A few years ago, my partner's conservatory was filled with those little bees then they all seemed to die, poor things.

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    1. They have a short flying season - tend to disappear by early summer

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    1. This isn't the first time this has happened, Kate - this little digger wasp came in with the washing too http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/washday-wasp.html

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