The dandelions in and just outside the garden are regularly visted by bees. Occasional honey bees and two solitary bees.

This one appears to be Andrena pubescens

There has been a great increase in the number of Nomada solitary bees in my garden this year. Nomada bees are cleptoparasites because they lay their eggs in the nest cells of other bees. Each nomada species targets a specific bees species. Nomada bees could easily be mistaken for wasps.

This is a Nomada goodeniana.

This one may be a Nomada signata but the picture is not so clear for ID purposes.

Tawny Mining Bee

I noticed this beautiful female tawny mining bee cleaning itself on a leaf of the flowering currant. As aits name suggests, this is a ground nesting solitary bee.

Honey bees and cherry blossom

The garden just across the back entrance track is full of honey and bumble bees pollionating the numerous blossom.

Red mason bees

Red mason bees are very active in our garden today, especially on the rosemary shrub.

I noticed this small bee in a spider web on our window sill. The bee had been caught in the web by its legs, the wings were not entangled.

I used a stick and carefully released the bee. I think it might have been a tawny mining bee, I did not get a good view and photograph not clear enough to be certain.

Mining bees and cuckoo bees

Even more bee activity in the garden. Also outside on the pavement. Just outside our front wall I observed a solitary mining bee Andrena thoracica entering a nest burrow in between the paving stones.

The bee is constructing a nest where it will lay eggs that will develop into next years adults.

You can just see the abdomen as it disappears down into its tunnel.

I also observed the first red mason bee (another solitary species) as it rested on a bucket in the garden.

I also observed this small wasp-like insect which is also a bee. This is one of many types of cuckoo bee which as their name suggests lays there eggs in the nests of other bee species.

The wasp-like cuckoo bees belong to a group called Nomada. This one appears to be Nomada’s lathbriana.

Cuckoo bees tend to parasitise a particular species, this one lays its eggs in the nests of another solitary bee  Andrena cineraria

Solitary bees

Two more species of solitary bee in our garden. I am still checking the species at the moment - many solitary bees are very hard to identify. They often require exaination of quite small hard to see features and a process of elimination. Some species can only really be identifed by microscopic identification of a dead specimen.

Bee 1

Bee 2

Both bees species were sunning themselves on the leaves of our buddleia. I will update as soon as I have an identification.