Are these miner bees?

[The Riviera Kid]

Are the bees in the attached pics miner bees?

They look like honey bees superficially but there was almost no buzz and they were living in the ground. I thought that miner bees were solitary but I have just read that they will share a good site. There were plenty of them around - I counted 10 or so at the 3 entrances under the slab that seems to be their home.

They were clearly gathering pollen but the corbicula looked elongated rather than rounded like on a honey bee.

I'm sorry for the poor picture quality. the bees were not obligingly sitting in good light.

 

[kazmcc]

The ones I saw were a lot fluffier and more orange, but there are lots of different types aren't there.

 

[steve1958]

Colletes daviesanus - a mining bee
Colletes daviesanus is a medium sized bee that has narrow white bands on its abdomen. They are particularly fond of flowers of the daisy family such as Anthemis and Achillea.

 

[steve1958]

Tawny Mining Bee Andrena Fulva

 

[steve1958]

Andrena scotica - a mining bee
Left a female Andrena scotica newly emerged from her underground nest

 

[steve1958]

Mining Bee - Andrena haemorrhoa
This little bee is often quite common in gardens that have plenty of bare soil. Andrena species nest underground in loose soil. Andrena haemorrhoa flies in April and May. There are several other ground nesting Andrenas likely to turn up in gardens. They range in size from quite small (about 8mm) to honey bee size.

 

[For want of a better word]

look a lot like the masonry bees in the sand cliffs or morain quaternry wash out between Wembury and Bovisands bay in S Devon.