Ashy mining bee
(Andrena cineraria)
Ashy mining bees are one of our most distinctive spring-flying solitary bees with their striking black and grey/white markings.
The female bees excavate small tunnels in the earth which can look like little soil volcanoes. This is the entrance to a female’s nest tunnel. Ashy mining bees are known to close this entrance over when they’ve finished foraging for the day, and when it rains, or if they are disturbed. They can occasionally be found nesting in large groups, but are also found in small groups or individually.
They are commonly found in open sunny sites, particularly in places with sandy soil, across gardens, parks, and the wider countryside. They feed from a wide variety of spring flowers and shrubs, including buttercups, hawthorn, blackthorn, gorse and fruit trees.
Ashy mining bees are active from March to June. They are common throughout most of England and Wales with records in the South West and West of Scotland.
Credit: Annie Ives
Females are about the size of a honeybee and are very distinctive with a glossy black abdomen that can look blueish. They have two distinct bands of light grey hair across the top and bottom of the thorax, and white hair on the face.
Males have similar markings to females, although they are a bit smaller and not quite as noticeable. They have more obvious light hairs along the side of the thorax and at the top of the abdomen.
For more information about this species visit the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society.
