Andrena flavipes
This is a very common Mining indeed: Andrena flavipes. Not only is it very common in England and parts of Wales, it also regularly appears in great numbers. In Southern England a colony consisting of some 40,000 nests has been found! The species is quite big, reaching a length of 10 to 13 mm. The white bands between the tergites are striking. Males and females are quite similar, except for the hairs, especially on the head. These are whitish grey in males and reddish brown in females. So the animal in the picture below is a male. Andrena flavipes is not at all specialized: all flowers will be visitid and checked for the presence of nectar. Andrena flavipes flies about in two generations. The spring generation, seen mainly in April and May, usually is bigger than the summer generation, flying about in July and August. This is a common species all over Europe. It is spreading northwards nowadays, both in Britain and abroad: it recently reached Sweden. It is not known whether this has got anything to do with the global warming up of planet Earth. Caution: the identification is not a 100%, for this species is difficult to identify, because there are some similar species.
