The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.
Range & Status
Principally restricted to coastal sites in southern England and Wales where it is associated with the wind-blown sands of coastal dunes. Here it normally frequents the mid-dunes and requires warm, sunny, areas such as south facing slopes for nesting. Previously known as M. leachella or M. argentata , this species is present on a large proportion of our major Cornish dune systems where some of the populations are extremely large. There are at least 20 post-1980 sites and in many of these the bee can be observed cutting and using the foliage of Traveller' s Joy Clematis vitalba to line the cells of its nest.
I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.
The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.