Play bee peek-a-boo

Have a closer look around your garden in spring, and look out for little volcanoes of sandy soil in your borders, raised beds and even on the lawn. These are not ant nests (not that ants are the bad guys), but they are the nests of some of our mining bees. Usually Andrena spp. We have about 60 species of mining bees in the UK.

Look carefully to watch the mother bee tooing and froing from the nest. She makes an intricate network of tunnels and bedrooms under the soil. Each little bedroom has a pollen patty and and an egg inside.

In wet weather the mother bee will close up the nest hole and at night to prevent predators.

You can play bee peek-a-boo with her. Don’t scare her, but she will hide if you get too close. Solitary bees don’t really sting, so it’s safe to get up close.