Colletes hederae |
Colletes hederae burrows |
http://goweros.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/colletes-hederae-doing-well-on-gower.html
Apart from the colony at Barry there are no other known colonies in Wales to the east of Porthcawl, but there must be others out there. It is unusual for a solitary bee in being active so late in the year, as it specialises in taking pollen from Ivy flowers. It is also quite large and with obvious stripes on the abdomen, and hence is quite easy to recognise. BWARS have a mapping scheme for this species which includes a distribution map:
http://www.bwars.com/index.php?q=content/Colletes-hederae-mapping-project
They would be delighted to receive any further Welsh records.
Nice photos George! These are definately the beasts I mentioned on the moth blog a few days ago. I wonder of the distribution of this species is constrained by the availability of soil that is sufficiently sandy to allow burrowing, or perhaps it needs exposed substrate to keep warm enough in the limited sunshine at this time of year for the larvae to develop?
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