The heather area at the top of Raw Nook NR is proving to be a really good area for some locally uncommon invertebrates. The other day whilst looking at the Grey Mining Bee – Andrena cineraria nesting colony by the sandy footpath I thought I would look in another nearby area to see if they were there too.
I soon found another bee species I was not familiar with.
After research this species turned out to be an Early mining bee (Andrena clarkella).
However, I noticed another bee species a Nomada leucophthalma (Below) which is “cuckoo” bee of A. clarkella which was entering the nest of the Early mining bee once it had left to lay its own eggs.
My attention was then drawn to another Nomada bee which looked different from Nomada leucophthalma.
I believe this bee is the Gooden’s Nomad Bee – Nomada goodeniana. I have sent photos and information to someone with more knowledge than me on Bee species for a second opinion.
The total number of bee species now for our urban area stands at 17 species
