What are these

[db9go]

What are these fly's or insects we have a grass bank and there a lot of them are they harmful or not any help please

 

[toquark]

Not the best photos but they look like honey bees? They quite often burrow into a sunny bank. A bit like the rest of us - pretty harmless unless you go poking about their business!

 

[deleted user 837354]

Look like bees to me.

 

[averageguy54]

I thought they look more like hornets. Not so nice when bothered and if they are in an area where people or children especially, are frequenting should be gotten rid of.

 

[wr.]

Bees

 

[Veryfruity]

Lots of different sorts of solitary bees are native to the uk.
They are very useful pollinators, they are less unionized than their honey bee relatives and will work in poor weather.
This looks like Homeless bee,( Nomada Fullvicornis )

 

[Veryfruity]

Here is a guide.

https://mediacdn.nhbs.com/jackets/jackets_resizer_xlarge/17/179970.jpg

 

[averageguy54]

Very interesting, first time I've ever heard of these. Any idea how common they might be?

 

[Mickeydredd]

look like garden bees, live in an underground nest and do not sting

 

[Kidds]

As said, solitary bees. Have hundreds of them in my orchard floor.

 

[averageguy54]

I'll have to start taking a look around over here.

 

[Grassman]

Badgers love them!

 

[wr.]

Lots of different sorts of solitary bees are native to the uk.
They are very useful pollinators, they are less unionized than their honey bee relatives and will work in poor weather.
This looks like Homeless bee,( Nomada Fullvicornis )

So, do solitary bees actually live alone and not in colonies?

 

[Kevtherev]

Mason bees

 

[DanniAgro]

I thought they look more like hornets. Not so nice when bothered and if they are in an area where people or children especially, are frequenting should be gotten rid of.

Hornets are very shy and very unlikely to bother anyone at all. They are rare so please do'nt give in to the common need to "kill them just in case", as they are totally different in character to wasps, avoiding anything including children.
And anyway, the photos don't look like hornets.

 

[Kidds]

So, do solitary bees actually live alone and not in colonies?

Yes
And yes, badgers do dig them up

 

[averageguy54]

Hornets are very shy and very unlikely to bother anyone at all. They are rare so please do'nt give in to the common need to "kill them just in case", as they are totally different in character to wasps, avoiding anything including children.
And anyway, the photos don't look like hornets.

No,no. Sorry if I misled, I firmly believe in live and let live. Unless they are directly affecting my ability to do my thing, or directly in the path of children playing I leave them all alone. They're all here for a reason, in my opinion, even if I can't see what it is.

If they are in the way, my first course of action is to discourage house building in an effort to get them to move on. Usually that works. After 2 or 3 destroyed nests they usually move on.