Red Mason Bee - Osmia bicornis

The males are smaller than the females 6 to 11 mm. Both sexes are covered in dense gingery hairs, the male with white tufts on the head while the female's head is black.

Around suitable nesting sites.

The Red Mason Bee is active from early spring, the male being the first to appear when the weather becomes mild in March, the female emerging later. Like all bees it feeds on pollen.

It is a solitary bee, each nest being the work of a single female bee working alone. They nest in pre-existing cavities such as hollow plant stems, old garden canes, air bricks, and even old nail holes in fence posts, lining the inside of the cavity with mud.

Widespread and fairly frequent in England and Wales, less records from further north.

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland.