[1][2] Its distinctive black, grey and white colouring makes it one of the most easily recognized of the genus.

[3] They are generally considered safe around children and pets because they're relatively docile, and their stingers aren't long enough to penetrate human skin.

[4][5] They are generalists, they mostly pollinate fruit trees, daisies, buttercups, mustard plants and brambles.

They prefer to nest in tended lawns, flowerbeds, parkland, calcareous grassland, orchards and on the borders of agricultural land.

The ashy mining bee flies from April until early June, most noticeably during the flowering periods of fruit trees, of which they are an important pollinator.