Baffled by Bees!

[pammosley]

Could anyone help me ID these Bees please, I think this one may be Andrena Clarkella




Is this a solitary bee? If so which one?


Thanks for taking the time to look

[Jason Green]

Morning Pam,

I'm not too sure of the first two, but your third image is of the Tachinid Fly Tachina ursina, the second sighting of this one on WAB this year (ID by Janet, I hadn't heard of that one)! It's one WAB members Chris R and Matt Smith of the Tachinid Recording Scheme would be interested in - Grid Refs and that.

Take care,

Jason

[pammosley]

Hi Jason, thanks for that, I didn`t know what it was? My husband took the photo at Gigrin Farm on Sunday. I`ll let the recorders know. Is it unusual then?

[Jason Green]

I'm not too sure - maybe locally-distributed? I'm sure Chris or Matt from the Scheme, or Janet/other will fill us in

[Matt Smith]

The bees look pretty good for Andrena clarkella, nice bright orange thorax and a hint of abdomenal markings.

The fly is Tachina ursina, the lack of a white stripe on the 5th segment of the abdomen separates this one out from its close relative Tachina lurida. It is fairly widely distributed across Britain - see the NBN map - but our records are somewhat patchy. This is probably due a combination of the fact that not many people actively record Tachinid flies, and that it flies early in the year, before many entomologists awake from their winter dormant period. If you could let me have the record details for the Recording Scheme database that would be great.

Matt

[pammosley]

Hi Matt, thanks for the info. I`ll speak to my husband when he gets home & I`ll let you know where he took the photo

[eucera]

Matt is (unsurprisingly) quite right on the bees. Female Andrena clarkella. One of our earliest flying solitary species, and a specialist on Willow pollen (Salix)