About

The Tawny mining bee is a common, spring-flying, solitary bee that nests underground, building a little volcano-like mound of soil around the mouth of its burrow. Nests can often be seen in lawns and flowerbeds in gardens and parks, or in mown banks and field margins in farmland and orchards. The Tawny mining bee is on the wing from April to June, which coincides with the flowering of fruit trees like cherry, pear and apple. The female collects pollen and nectar for the larvae, which develop underground (each in a single 'cell' of the nest) and hibernate as pupa over winter.