Clark’s Mining Bee (Andrena clarkella) Pic credit: Ed Phillips

These are three male species of mining bees you may see emerging in mid February from their underground burrows constructed in sandy soil.

• Clark’s Mining Bee (Andrena clarkella)
• Small Sallow Mining Bee (Andrena praecox)
• Large Sallow Mining Bee (Andrena apicata)

Andrena clarkella is the more common. The one above was one of many at a nesting colony at Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve, Warwickshire, where Ed Phillips took the photo a few years ago. More of Ed’s fantastic photos can be found here.

Male mining bees are most likely found at the entrance of the nest waiting for the females to come out a few weeks later.

L-R Males: Small Sallow Mining Bee (Pic credit: Graham Callow); Large Sallow Mining Bee (Pic credit: Nigel Jones)

The other two early male mining bee species – Small Sallow Mining Bee (Andrena praecox) pictured above left, and Large Sallow Mining Bee (Andrena apicata) to it’s right – both get their common names from the trees which provides them with pollen. Sallow is another name for willow – and they can be seen foraging on Goat willow tree (Salix caprea) – also known as pussy willow, as the male catkins look like a cat’s paws. However, it’s the females who emerge in March, that you are most likely to see collecting pollen.

These two mining bee species are scarce but can be widespread in the pockets of England and Wales where they are found since they nest in large aggregations.

Top bee spotting tip. Find an area teeming with willows – Goat willow, Grey willow, Eared Willow and even Weeping willow, and keep an eye out from late February to May. Here are the females, you may spot from March onwards. As you can see they are darker and fluffier. The best way to differentiate males and females, is:

• the male’s pale moustache
• males are a couple of millimetres smaller (8-9.5mm, 6-7.5mm, 7-9.5mm)
• males fly in late February, females don’t appear until March
• females are more striking, being brighter
• females and females predominately forage on willows, but females can go to dandelion-like flowers too.
• females often have pollen on their back legs.

L-R: Females. Clark’s Mining Bee on Pussy Willow (Pic credit: Nick Owens); Small Sallow Mining Bee; Large Sallow Mining Bee on finger (Pic credit: Nigel Jones).

It’s extremely difficult to differentiate between many mining bee species as they are all small and brown, but if a small, slender bee is flying in February it can only be one of these three mining bees, or a honeybee, which can look similar to the untrained eye, but is striped and less hairy.

For more information on these mining bees visit the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society and Ed Phillips has a good blog here.