CLOSED: small mounds of dirt all over the yard and around the plants

thegardennovice Branford, FL Jul 21, 2007

I have small mounds of dirt all over my yard and around my plants in my red mulch. It looks like perfect tiny round balls of dirt made into a small mound. Can you help me identify what is making these mounds, and what I can do to get rid of them?
I can not take a picture. It just rained. The rain flattens the mounds and they disappear. It takes a few days to get them all back.

Thanks,

Post #3760902

Quote

wallaby1 Lincoln, United Kingdom(Zone 8a) Jul 21, 2007

Do you have a lot of small bees around? I have many of what are called solitary bees, which do not live in a hive as honey bees but make a small mound when excavating the soil to make a nest. They are what they are called, that is 'solitary' and no other bee will use that nest but one female.

I have noticed a gradual increas in these over the last couple of years or moe, but had put it down to ants. This year I am taking pics of all the insects and have noticed many of htese little bees on the species Campanula in particular, that is where most of the mounds were last year. They have just started to make their nests but have been around for some time, I see some holes don't have any mounding which is noticeable.

I took a pic about a week ago, I noticed the bee peeping out of the hole. The Andrena species are mining bees, look at some of the pics on here,

http://www.bwars.com/Gallery.htm

If they are bees they are harmless, mine don't take any notice of me. The nest will not last for long and the mounds will wash back down when they are finished, it's great to have them to watch!