Heather Mining Bee - Andrena fuscipes, Aylesbeare Common

Heather Mining Bee - Andrena fuscipes is on the wing  to coincide with the flowering of Common Heather or Ling - Calluna vulgaris. I went to search for it on 25th July, a bit early, but that meant there weren't many heather flowers out yet, which narrowed down the search. All I had to do was find a nice patch of open flowers and wait. I saw a handful of females and also a couple of its associated nomad bee, the Black-horned Nomad Bee - Nomada rufipes.

Heather Mining Bee - Andrena fuscipes

Black-horned Nomad Bee - Nomada rufipes

Large Shaggy Bee - Panurgus banksianus, Aylesbeare Common

There's a colony of Large Shaggy Bee - Panurgus banksianus in the main car park of Alylesbeare Common which afforded me the opportunity of watching them closely over a couple of days last June. These bees only obtain pollen from yellow Asteraceae, particularly Cat's-ear, hawkbits and hawk's-beards as seen here.

MALES

FEMALES

Mating ball.
 

Sainfoin Bee - Melitta dimidiata, Salisbury Plain

The Sainfoin Bee - Melitta dimidiata is a rare bee found only on Salisbury Plain where it collects pollen exclusively from wild Sainfoin - Onobrychis viciifolia. I visited mid June and saw lots of males but only a single female as it was still a bit early for them. 

 

Habitat of Sainfoin Bee at Tilshead

 MALES 

FEMALE

 

OTHER BEES AND INVERTS

Male Sainfoin Bee and Red-tailed Bumblebee - Bombus lapidarius

Common Carder Bee - Bombus pascuorum & Burnet Companion Moth - Euclidia glyphica

Spined Mason Bee - Osmia spinulosa

Male Buffish Mining Bee - Andrena nigroaenea 

Male Yellow-legged Mining Bee - Andrena flavipes

Slender-footed Robberfly - Leptarthrus brevirostris
 

Green Hairstreak caterpillar - Callophrys rubi

Yellow Loosestife Bee - Macropis europea on the Exeter Canal

Yellow Loosestrife Bee - Macropis europea photographed and filmed on the Exeter Canal on 3rd July 2025. This is a scarce and very specialised Bee which solely uses Yellow Loosestrife - Lysimachia vulgaris from which the female collects both pollen and floral oils, the flowers don't produce nectar and so the bees get this from other plants. The female also collects the floral oils to waterproof her nest which can then survive inundation in marshy areas. 

MALES

FEMALES

MALE & FEMALE

 

Bellflower Blunthorn Bee - Melitta haemorrhoidalis

Bellflower Blunthorn Bee - Melitta haemorroidalis on Nettle-leaved Bellflower - Campanula trachelium, Purbeck Dorset, 29th June 2025. 

MALES

FEMALES

 

White Lizard Orchid in Leicestershire and NE Lincolnshire Coast

On midsummer day we set of from Sidmouth at 2am to make our way to the NE Lincolnshire coast, the main reason for the trip was for Rob to spend the weekend at one of his regular cowboy action shooting competitions with the British Western Shooting Society. I tagged along as it seemed an ideal opportunity to see the White Lizard Orchids which we would pass within a couple of hundred metres of on the journey. They are on a roadside verge in NW Leicestershire, just a quick detour off the motorway. I was a bit concerned that they wouldn't have fared too well in the hot and dry conditions which we'd been having, and they hadn't. They were pretty shrivelled up but one was just about clinging on and worth photographing, there were some nice regular specimens too. It was just after 5am though, so the light wasn't great.

Lizard Orchid - Himantoglossum hircinum

 

White Lizard Orchid - Himantoglossum hircinum var. albiflora

After arriving at North Cotes I almost immediately set off to walk  the short distance to the coast. It was already really warm and the forecast was for it to reach over 30 degrees later. There is a low dune ridge before the shoreline and crossing through this I spotted some nesting Silvery Leaf-cutter Bee - Megachile leachella and after walking out to the shore and taking some photos I returned to watch and attempt to film the bees. I got some nice slow motion footage of a female bee at her nest and also a quick visit by a species of kleptoparasitic Satellite Fly - Metopia Sp.

A Roebuck on the dune ridge

 

The peaceful and deserted beach at Northcoates Point

Silvery Leafcutter Bee - Megachile leachella