Mining Bees in East Devon

[Chas]

It was fascinating to see literally thousands of Mining Bees on the cliff face at Beer, East Devon this afternoon.( In very strong sun). They were using small holes, very interesting to see them coming and going. There were two obvious sizes, larger females I think, and much small males who were coming and going with laden pollen sacks.
I am sure that this is not an unreported phenomenon here at Beer, but I would be interested in any comments and a positive ID of the species if possible. I understand that there are 8 species of Mining Bee in the UK so it should not be too hard to give them a species.

[eucera]

First I think that I should just make a slight upwards tweak in the number of mining bee species we have in UK. I make the figure 136!

Now... the good news. You bees are readily identifiable to species level and they are clearly Ivy Bees (Colletes hederae).

If you go to the website of the UK Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society (BWARS Home Page) you will find a page dedicated to this species, information on how you can contribute to the national monitoring programme of this newly arrived species, and also download an Information Sheet, which will tell you all about its spread, distribution and ecology.

Beer IS a site from where we have previous data BUT all sound records are useful, and carry equal weight. I just KNOW the scheme organiser would be thrilled to get the full details from you

With best wishes, Stuart

[Chas]

Thanks for your reply which makes this sighting even more interesting for me. I am really pleased that you were able to name the bees to species level. They are fascinating to watch, quite large and impressive in their thousands. I plan to return and video the activity early next week if the weatehr holds.