Common Mini-Mining Bee
Andrena minutula
Common Mini-Mining Bee
Andrena minutula is commonly known as a mini-mining bee! It is a solitary bee meaning the female will care for her young alone.
These mining bees are especially small emerging early in the year; hence why they are fond of the earlier blooming flowers and blossoms.
Favoured habitats include deciduous woodland and abandoned sites previously used for construction and quarrying, choosing to make nests in areas comprising the sandier soil types.
Traits

These bee's are specialist pollinators.
Appearance
Adults: These bees are tiny, reaching under half a centimetre long. They are mainly black with silvery grey hairs. They can easily be mistaken for flies, but their behaviour can differentiate them. These bees will spend most of their time flying between small-headed flowers and the nesting site.
Larvae & Eggs: Rarely seen by gardeners because they spend their development inside burrows mined by females.
Symptoms
May nest in areas of bare ground receiving plenty of sun.
They tend to nest on ground that's received little interference from humans, such as abandoned sites.
Activity
Diurnal
Personality
Order
Hymenoptera
Family
Andrenidae
Metamorphosis
Complete
Distribution
Europe
Biological treatment
It's not recommended to treat gardens with Adrena bees. Attract them to your garden by planting an array of indigenous flowers and reducing the use of pesticides.
Chemical treatment
These bees are specialist pollinators; ideally, they shouldn't be removed.
Attracts
These bees prefer smaller petaled flowers due to their size.