Gooden’s Nomad Bee

I was digging a very weedy section of the plot when I noticed this insect - I thought it was a wasp, but it’s a bee. Nomada Goodeniana

I don’t know whether she is out and about early in the year due to mild weather or if I dug her out. They are usually seen flying from April.

I’ve based the id on the second stripe being solid; it’s quite tricky to see but I’m quite certain it’s a solid line, otherwise it’s one of the two other Nomada species. I know this one is female because there is no black on the antennae.

They are quite common. It’s a “cuckoo bee”. She steals underground nests made by other digger bees and lays her egg in there. Her larvae then eats the original egg or larva and eats all the pollen that was left. Very naughty, but not a plotholder’s enemy.