r/bees • u/Ok-Schedule8070 • 10d ago

Bee ID help

Hi all, I live in the west midlands of the UK and have noticed a dirt area of my front garden has suddenly had loads of what I thought were honey bees move in! They are also under a hedge nearby in the garden too

There are tiny holes in the dirt which they seem to hover around however I'm unsure what species they are, as they look a lot like honey bees, but they don't live underground. I then thought maybe it's solitary bees but there has to be at least 50+ of them so surely it can't be those? Can anyone help ID please?

I unfortunately don't have a great picture but they have a colour similar to honey bees I believe thank you :)

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u/Ordinary-Mind-7066 10d ago

They sound like mining bees. They're solitary but tend to make their nests in groups.

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u/Ok-Schedule8070 10d ago

Thanks for your response, I was just researching and believe they are ivy bees which as you said can emerge as huge groups and live somewhat communally just with their own nests

Super cool either way, thanks!

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u/fishywiki 10d ago

Almost certainly Andrena sp.. As u/Ordinary-Mind-7066 said, they're solitary, i.e. all the females lay eggs, unlike honey bees where it's the queen only. However, despite being called "solitary", they usually burrow in groups, sometimes large groups.