Recently I've been getting a lot of e-mails from people wanting to know about bees that are obviously not bumblebees, but may resemble them. Usually the writers are concerned that these bees are causing some damage to their property, or are a danger to children and pets, and naturally they want to know what to do. Well I'm sorry I can't really help very much as I usually don't have enough information to identify the insect, and often the writers forget to tell me which part of the world they're from. However I've done a bit of reading and asking around and perhaps I can give you some idea of the type of bee you've got.

Almost all of them are classed as solitary bees, i.e. the female doesn't stick around after laying the first batch of eggs and providing a food supply (pollen and nectar), so the nest size is tiny. However some do nest communally either close together or using a common entrance hole, making it look a little like they are social bees.

These bees are generally less hairy than bumblebees and usually, but not always, smaller. The colour and pattern of their hairs varies, but is rarely the yellow and black seen in the commoner bumblebee. They fall into four main groups, miners, carpenters, masons and leafcutters.

Mining bees.
These bees generally nest in the ground, often in paths or lawns, and some of the lawn nesting species nest communally. The entrance to their burrows are often marked by a small mound of soil (see right). These bees are good pollinators of economically important plants such as fruit trees and alfalfa. In reasonable numbers these bees won't harm your lawn.

Mason bees.
These bees will nest in almost any cavity which they can modify in shape with earth or other materials to suit their requirements. Some species specialise in nesting inside snail shells, and there is a tiny species that nests in the holes left by wood worm beetles. The European species Osmia rufa is often found nesting in old nail holes and in the mortar of old walls. Others, like Anthophora retusa, on the left construct cells using clay, sand, earth and chalk, and earth mixed with wood - whatever is at hand. In towns their nests can often be found between two bricks in walls. The nest on the right has only two cells, if space permitted there would be more. Anthophora retusa looks like a small, dark bumblebee, but she has orange-coloured hairs on her hind legs. In the UK this bee appears in the early spring and flies until July, it is an important fruit pollinator..

Getting drunk and falling down
Coryanthes sp., the south American bucket orchid tree epiphyte opens its flowers in the early morning and drips fluid from two glands into its bucket. The fluid gives off a scent attractive to male bees. The male bees arrive and rub off some waxy substance from the flower. Many male bees are attracted and there is some fighting and pushing, also the aromatic fluid seems to have a slightly intoxicating effect. The upshot of the crowding, excitement and intoxication is that a bee will eventually fall into the bucket of fluid. There is only one way out of the bucket and that is through an escape tunnel. At the exit the tunnel closes, gripping the body of the male bee while gluing two pollen sacs to its back. The bee is trapped for ten minutes, just the amount of time it takes for the glue to dry. When other bees fall into the bucket they are allowed to pass through the tunnel unhindered, but if one is carrying pollen sacs on his back the sacs will be pulled off. This pollination is species specific, i.e. that plant can only be pollinated by a particular species of bee. This is a precarious position to be in if something happens to the pollinator.