This male is the very first native bee we spotted this season. And he's particularly early this year. Tricholletes usually start to appear mid August.

Trichocolletes venustus (link to iNaturalist record)

I had been checking the Styphelia flowers almost daily all month, and not a single Exoneura in sight. Then in the space of a single day, they became the most numerous group of bees about. Various species in a range of sizes, many (like this very first one) quite small.

Exoneura (link to iNaturalist record)

We discovered this little-known species nesting here a couple of years ago. Having studied them in detail, we are currently preparing a paper for a scientific journal ... as nothing has previously been published about their breeding biology. In the meantime we keep a close watch on their comings and goings. This appearance of a female, digging her burrow in the same patch of bare ground as in previous years, was therefore cause for celebration. By me, anyway. It is also added incentive to get on with that paper!

Rhopalum coriolum

Just centimetres from the nesting crabronid, this small bee was exploring the soil ... probably seeking a nesting site of her own. Most bees in this family are ground-burrowing.

Lasioglossum (link to iNaturalist record)