Interestingly, this bee has two broods each season, the first flies from march to June and the Second from June to late August. They collect pollen from a very wide range of flowers and are not habitat specialists. It is also widespread right across Europe to Siberia and down to North Africa and the Middle East.
Gwynne’s Mining Bee Andrena bicolor
Each year, on the weekend closest to my birthday we have a family get together. Last year was one of those special ones with a zero and we met in Milton Keyes where I was going to treat everyone to a pub lunch but Ash, my son, surprised me by paying before I could. This year Covid-19 put paid to that so a Zoom get together was planned… watch this space 🙂
Well that was fun… two hours chatting to some family and friends, my first Zoom meeting. One friend got date wrong, another went to hospital with a gum infection, a couple of family members couldn’t sign in, but all worth doing. Must now try some one to ones.
Not much about on a damp and dreary day… so settle for this old friend: Eupeodes latifasciatus
…and a ‘non-specific fly on a Shasta Daisy:
