We dug to expose around a 5' high section of clay soil. There were dozens of the bees. I did as @Fire suggested and created an equally or more suitable habitat close by. That, coupled with the constant disruption at their old site whilst we carried on the pond dig, led to them decamping so that when we lay the liner, there were only a couple still there (which we did our best to usher away). We then left the liner laid loosely for a few days so that things could crawl out before weighing it down with water.
This is encouraging. Thank you. I should perhaps dig another spot first then.
They could be a species of bumblebee as most nest in the ground. Can you take some pictures for identification. Most worker bees will die in the autumn and the new queens overwinter somewhere else. I think you need a positive identification before what you decide is best to do.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
They won't sting you so don't worry about that. Last year i was literally in the middle of thousands/hundreds of thousands at a local site watching them dig in the sandy banks and they are completely harmless. I think their burrows go down a couple of feet and have several egg chambers. I can't see any defined holes in the picture so they might be investigating the area at the moment. Again I'm not a bee expert so it might be a slightly different species to what I saw but I believe it was later in the year so if you can get a positive id you may find its ok to dig now as they haven't layed anything yet.
Yes they are mining bees. I have them out the front of my house in a teeny patch of land I can barely call a garden. I was actually digging last October there, hoping to try and improve the awful soil and I accidentally dug up three of them (I didn't know they were there at the time). Here is one; they were really cute and I felt bad so I stopped digging! Massive photo for a tiny bee.
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This is encouraging. Thank you. I should perhaps dig another spot first then.
Best I could do. They were too interested in me….