Selection of Spring Bees In Sidmouth

I didn't get out and about as much last year but did spend quite a bit of time out in and around Sidmouth looking for inverts in general and bees in particular. Here's a selection of the bees I found in each month of the spring.

 MARCH

Male Cliff Mining Bee - Andrena thoracica

Female Cliff Mining Bee - Andrena thoracica

 

APRIL 

Female Hairy-footed Flower Bee - Anthophora plumipes

 

Female Tawny Mining Bee - Andrena fulva

Female Chocolate Mining Bee - Andrena Scotica

Female Ashy Mining Bee - Andrena cineraria

Female Grey-patched Mining Bee - Andrena nitida
 

MAY 

Female Buffish Mining Bee - Andrena nigroaenea

Female Blue Mason Bee - Osmia caerulescens

Female Green Furrow Bee - Lasioglossum morio

Male Red-girdled Mining Bee - Andrena labiata
 

Male Hawthorn Mining Bee - Andrena chrysosceles

Fabricius' Nomad Bee - Nomada fabriciana
 

 Female Wilke's Mining Bee - Andrena wilkella

Female Mini Miner - Andrena sp. 

If you look closely you should be able to see that this bee is carrying several Oil Beetle Triungulins.

 

 

Big-headed Mining Bees in Sidmouth Cemetery

In late April whilst looking for invertebrates in Sidmouth Cemetery I noticed a large swarm of male Andrena bees around the top of a hedge. When one eventually alighted for long enough for me to get a better view I was very pleased to see that they were the scarce bee, Andrena bucephala - Big-headed Mining Bee. I've seen one male previously down by the river in Sidford but never any females, so I returned a few days later to see if any females had emerged and they had, together with good numbers of the equally scarce kleptoparasitic bee, Nomada hirtipes - Long-horned Nomad Bee. Big-headed Mining Bee is its only host species.

Big-Headed Mining Bee - Andrena Bucephala

MALE

FEMALES

Long-horned Nomad Bee - Nomada hirtipes

MALES

FEMALES 

I found that they were nesting in an old rodent burrow on a steep bank but well hidden by vegetation. Big-headed Mining Bee is one of a few solitary bees which share a communal entrance but still make their own individual nests. I decided to revisit in a few days and see how they were progressing. I memorised the location, which was underneath the leaves of a large primrose plant, but as it happens I needn't have bothered because when I returned it was to find this somewhat over-zealous strimming.

I did eventually find the nest entrance again by watching for the bees flying in, but it was now very exposed. This didn't seem to deter the bees though and I saw many pollen laden females arriving at the nest as well as several of the klepoparasitic nomads.
 

Andrena Bucephala

Nomada hirtipes

Scarlet Darter. Silverlake, Dorset 13th July 2025

I never got around to going to see the Scarlet Darters in Dorset in 2024 and regretted it afterwards. So when I saw that they were back out in good numbers again last year I made the effort to go. Actually, it's too far for me to drive these days so the effort was really my husband's. Rob has absolutely no interest in insects but kindly ferries me around in the summer to see them. After about an hour's wait I managed to get some nice shots of one near the waters edge and later, on my way back to the car park, I happened to spot one land in a bramble patch and was able to sneak up on it!

The Dragonfly Lake at Silverlake, Dorset.

 Scarlet Darter - Crocothemis erythraea