Solitary Bee IDs

[runnerwill]

Hi I found my first solitary bees of the year yesterday in Bedfordshire, and as usual need some help on the IDs.

First one came to a flowering bush in a garden, think it's an Andrena species



Next one was one of many flying around the heath which were distinctly unkeen on having their picture taken. Only got this shot, don't know if it's possible to get an ID from this angle


Cheers

Will

[eucera]

Certainly all Andrenas

The ones at the top look as though they might be A. bicolor females, although it is difficult to get a real idea of size. This species is really quite small as spring flying Andrena goes.

the male (on the dead bracken frond) is not identifiable, and could be one of a number of species

[runnerwill]

thanks for the help, the female bee was just under a cm in length if that helps. I managed to get some more shots of the male bees on the heath today, probably still can't get an id from them anyway.

[eucera]

The female Andrena certainly sound like A. bicolor. The male will remain unidentified I'm afraid. These are microscope jobs in the overwhelming majority of cases

[runnerwill]

Oh well, thanks very much for the help.