Andrena fulva, Tawny Mining Bee

Common Name: Tawny Mining Bee

Andrena fulva, or as it is more commonly known, the Tawny Mining Bee, is one of the most distinctive and obvious of all the spring flying solitary bee species. The males are very different to the females, being much slimmer, covered in less dense orangey brown hair and with a very pronounced tuft of white hairs on the lower face (the female is pictured above).

Peak activity coincides with the flowering periods of fruit trees such as Pear, Cherry and Apple. Andrena fulva nests are constructed in the ground, and the nest entrances are surrounded by a volcano like mound of excavated spoil. Nests are often in loose aggregations in tended lawns, flower beds, mown banks and in sparsely vegetated field margins.

Pollen is collected from a wide range of plants including flowering trees and shrubs, weeds and garden species. It is common in gardens, parks, calcareous grassland, orchards and on the edges of cropped agricultural land.

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