Megachile willughbiella

Females from mainland Britain and the Isle of Man have black pollen-carrying hairs on the fifth and sixth belly segments, while Irish females have an entirely reddish-golden pollen brush.

It is one of the most frequently observed and widely distributed leafcutter bees in the British Isles.

Beyond Britain it occurs in western Europe from Spain to Lithuania and Finland.

Gardens and brownfield sites are frequently visited and used for nesting, and the species is found in a variety of habitats with suitable nesting and forage.

The species is solitary and has a single generation per year.

Mid-June through July and into early August is the peak flight period.

The bee passes the winter as a prepupa, the resting stage between the fully fed larva and the pupa.

Nests can be made either in wood or in soil, and there is even a record of a nest in a length of rubber hose in a greenhouse.

The brood cells are built from pieces of leaf, including beech and tutsan.

It is a renter that uses existing cavities in dead wood, walls or the ground rather than digging new ones.

It is polylectic, with recorded flower visits to heather, rose, daisy, pea, figwort, bellflower and willowherb families, and carries dry pollen on the underside of the abdomen.

Bellflowers, bird's-foot trefoils, thistles and brambles are all visited.

Three cuckoo bees of the genus Coelioxys, C. quadridentata, C. rufescens and C. elongata, are recorded as cleptoparasites of its nests.

In Britain the species is not regarded as scarce or threatened, and the European Red List of Bees classes it as Least Concern.