Everyone has their own marker for when spring begins. For some of us it’s as early as the snowdrops peeking through our sleeping soils, for others it’s the chorus of amorous amphibians, or the increasing bird song from our neighbourhood blackbirds or a cheeky chiff chaff. For me, it’s being able to shout "HAIRY-FOOTED FLOWER BEE" as I leg it down the garden! 

How do I identify a hairy-footed flower bee?

The female hairy-footed flower bee is black and furry and resembles a small bumble bee. The males are rusty-brown and have long, feathery, orange hairs on their middle legs and feet, which is where this species gets its name from! 

There’s something hypnotic about watching a Hairy-footed flower-bee or as I like to call them HFFBs (there’s only a certain number of times you can say Hairy-footed flower bee in a sentence without becoming totally tongue tied). Now, come to think of it HFFB isn’t that much easier… 

In March 2024, I stumbled across a little patrol of male HFFBs darting amongst lungworts in a front garden of a static home site in Warmley. It’s this dashing Top Gun-esque flight pattern that can help distinguish HFFBs from smaller slower bumblebees, whom they’re often mistaken for due to their fluffy appearance. 

The bees here were well provisioned by the surrounding William Champions Gardens, a historic site filled with primroses, comfrey, dead nettles, lungworts, and lots of very old walls! But why do they need walls? 

HFFBs are in fact a solitary bee, this means that they have no workers or social structure but rather are often found nesting close together in gardens and parks. Their preferred nesting sites are in soft mortar, cob walls, exposed banks, soft cliff faces, and occasionally in the ground in compact clay soils. Our houses aren’t quite the bee metropolis they used to be – back when homes were made with cob mortar and roofed with thatch, all those soft substrates and hollow stems were essentially a giant bug hotel! William Champion’s Gardens has an array of old stone structures including a rather magnificent sculpture of Neptune, providing the perfect spot for nesting female HFFBs amongst many others! 

Today, though many of us don’t have those materials in our building structures, there is a growing movement of HFFB lovers crafting their own special abodes, where females, once successfully mated, can bring on the next generation.  

How can I help hairy-footed flower bees?

Paul, Community Engagement Officer for the Warmley Community Nature Reserve, shares what local people have been doing to make more space for HFFBs:

"The Friends of William Champion’s Garden have been working to make this historically and ecologically rich piece of land even more accessible for both humans and wildlife to enjoy. They’ve cleared a lot of industrial waste, replacing it with fruit trees and other wildlife-friendly plants, such as lungworts, which has helped make this such a great habitat for species like the HFFB.

"The Friends group get together on the second Sunday of the month - to have fun working in the garden and share some cake – and they are looking for volunteers to join them, so if this sounds like your cup of tea, do get involved!"

Nick, from the Friends of William Champion’s Garden (WCG), said “Wherever we leave space for the natural world to flourish then it will! Here in Warmley in WCG and Neptune's Wood we are lucky enough to have that space.

"Although pinched between the ring road and lots of industry this green space has open areas of grassland scattered with trees, a wildlife pond, good scrubby patches of bramble and other tall wild plants and a small woodland.

"These habitats combined make this a home to many types of wildlife, from foxes, owls, woodpeckers to wild garlic and other pollinator-friendly flowering plants and some unusual fungi. The area is full of ecological niches that provide much needed home to our hard-pressed wildlife.” 

Nick is also part of the Warmley Flock, which supports the Warmley Community Nature Reserve. WCG is part of a thriving community, sharing mutual support with neighbouring projects, including Kingsway Park (who recently created a wildflower meadow with our support), Kingswood Heritage Museum (who recently planted a native hedgerow with us), a local church, a Scout group, and Men In Sheds, who are based at the museum.

Paul adds: "The Men in Sheds group recently built a large bug hotel for WCG, specifically to help the HFFB and similar species. Local gardeners have also been joining in, by creating ponds, planting wildflowers, and more, in their own gardens and window boxes.  

"Through this kind of work, organisations and individuals in the area are working together to make the whole neighbourhood more of a haven for wildlife, to become almost an urban green corridor, where species like the HFFB can thrive in the city."

Community Nature Reserves like this are popping up all over the place. If you have one locally, you can get involved – or if not, perhaps you can get set one up yourself!  Find out more about Community Nature Reserves here:

 What is a Community Nature Reserve?