Tawny mining bee in gardens

Andrena fulva is often found in gardens in spring, collecting pollen from the flowers of garden plants and fruit trees.  The female is very characteristic in appearance. Note the orange-brown hairs over the thorax and abdomen, and black hairs on the face legs and sides.

The bee is an important pollinator of fruit trees such as cherries, apples and plums, so it is a valuable species to encourage in your garden! The bee nest in burrows in the ground, in gardens often in lawns. Only females have a sting and the bee is extremely non-aggressive and very unlikely to sting - this would be the bee's last resort and only likely to happen if someone picked one up and squeezed it, or if it was accidentally trodden on with bare feet.

Save your records
Species account
To see the results of records from our survey only click this link: Tawny Mining Bee results