Wildwings and Wanderings: Grey-backed Mining Bee, Red-vented Mining Bee, and Early Colletes at Blashford Lakes.

Tuesday, 10 February 2026

Grey-backed Mining Bee, Red-vented Mining Bee, and Early Colletes at Blashford Lakes.

In early April last year I visited Blashford Lakes in Hampshire, hoping to see a couple of new bee species. Grey-backed Mining Bee - Andrena vaga first appeared here a few years ago and there's a good colony now, Red-vented Sallow Mining Bee- Andrena ventralis, which was first found here as recently as 2023, new for Britain and Early Colletes - Colletes cunicularius, which I'd looked for and failed to see at Braunton Burrows a couple of years ago.

I did managed to see all three target species although my photos of A. vaga and A. ventralis leave a lot to be desired as I had to take them from a distance of at least 8ft (not ideal for bees to say the least). The bees nest in a patch of ground and a specially built 'bee bank' which are in an area with no public access. There's barbed wire on the gate so you cant even lean on it for a better look. The fence line around the area is also built up with layers of brushwood making it hard to get a decent view. I had to poke my lens through a gap in the branches to get the photos I did. I'm quite pleased with the results given the circumstances. You can get good views with binoculars it's just photography that's limited. The bees do sometimes land outside of the enclosed area and can be seen collecting pollen or nectaring on nearby sallows too. The Early Colletes are in a different area of the site and I found some nesting females near the car park, they were also a challenge to photograph as they were very active and rarely stationary!

Grey-backed Mining Bee

Female laden with sallow pollen at nest site. Many females are constantly followed and watched by the aptly named Satellite Fly - Leucophora sp. A kleptoparasite waiting for an opportunity to enter the bee's nest to lay its own eggs. This can be seen in the next three images.