Bee with red legs

[Bundle]

Hi
I found this small bee in late july in my rockery early in the morning. It is about 12 mm long, and has very hairy red or ginger legs. I looked but couldn't find any others like it is the garden.
I am in noth east Scotland. The weather had been sunny, but the nights were getting cold when I found it.

Thanks

[JRsbugs]

Halictus rubicundus female is probable, they are around until late.

[Bundle]

Thanks so much. Do you know if there are any books I can get to identify bees? I have bumblebee books, but for other bees all I have is Bees and Wasps by Zahradnik. It's a great book, but is there a better one.
Rgds

[Jason Green]

Originally Posted by Bundle

Thanks so much. Do you know if there are any books I can get to identify bees? I have bumblebee books, but for other bees all I have is Bees and Wasps by Zahradnik. It's a great book, but is there a better one.
Rgds

For generalism, you could try 'Bees of Surrey' (covering most of our species). To specialise, you could go for something like 'Bees of the Family Halictidae (excluding Sphecodes) of Poland' which covers all our Halictus bees like your one. Expensive though at I think, £90.

For online resources try here, then bwars.com, search on Flickr, etc. there are of course more, i just don't search online like I used to.

Many bees though such as your one, require microscope-based work to identify due to subtle differences between species.

[JRsbugs]

Bees of Surrey is said to include most bees you might encounter, but I don't think anyone has it until there's another print.

You can use the Gallery on BWARS but not all species are represented.

Bees of Surrey by David Baldock

Welcome to WAB by the way.

[eucera]

Your bee is a female H. rubicundus I reckon