Those Tiny Holes in Your Lawn Aren’t Damage – They’re Made by Mining Bees and Indicate a Healthy Ecosystem

I recently watched the most extraordinary thing happen on my lawn: a little mining bee dug a perfectly round hole into the ground. This interaction completely altered my mindset when it comes to the once-mysterious holes I stumble across in the yard: mining bees are not destructive but bring many benefits to our gardens, with their presence indicating a healthy ecosystem.

Mining bees are a type of bee that earn their name from the habit of burrowing into the ground. As solitary bees, they seek undisturbed ground to create a safe nest for their young, though it's common to spot numerous nests in one area as they gather in larger aggregations. But don't fret. These holes don't cause long-term damage to lawns, as mining bees don't feed on plant roots. Rather, the bees are seeking refuge and tend to only be active for 4-6 weeks.

David M. Burrows from the pollinator project company Arkearth says their presence in your yard actually has many benefits. Mining bees are efficient pollinators, they aerate soil, and are an overall sign of thriving biodiversity in your garden. Here, David explains more about mining bee habits and what it means to have them in your yard.

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What Are Mining Bees?

Mining bees (Andrena) are ground-nesting bees that burrow solitarily into the ground to lay larvae. They're typically only active for 4-6 weeks, emerging from March to May, before the adults die off.

'Mining bees are an amazing category of solitary bees. In fact, there are over 1,500 species represented all around the world of these pollinator-friendly insects,' says David.

'Unlike honeybees, mining bees don’t make honey, have no queen bee, and live mostly alone in communities of other similar bees.'

Some US native mining bees include the smooth-faced mining bee and spring beauty mining bee, which is a specialist pollinator that seeks the spring beauty flower.

It can be quite easy to spot mining bee activity in your yard. They look for sunny, dry, sparse patches, including sandy lawns and flower beds. As they burrow, they create a mound of fine soil around a hole.

David M Burrows

David M Burrows has 25+ years in start-ups for B2B and B2C concepts, and he launched his latest in 2021 with his wife, Margaret. Hivessence is an organic, sustainable honey-infused self-care brand that works to save bees and other pollinators via Pollination Accelerator projects deployed by their non-profit Arkearth. It aims to save honeybees, butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, bats, and other pollinating species via a series of sustainable projects.

Benefits of Mining Bees

There are so many different benefits to having mining bees in the yard, and the holes they create pose no long-term threat to your lawn's (or nearby plants') health.

'These solitary bees are prolific pollinators and reach 15 times more flowers in a day than honeybees because they’re not managing a hive,' David explains. 'Most mining bees are native to the area where they live and thrive. The holes produced by the bees are more beneficial than destructive.'

It actually indicates some good soil health in your garden, as they need well-draining, loose soil to burrow.

He adds: 'The burrowing behavior opens areas of the soil for ventilation, and rain to penetrate and avoid surface water run-off. Ground bees also add to the nutrition of soil, providing nutrients, nitrogen, and other elements which benefit surrounding plant and tree roots.'

For this reason, they help flower beds and vegetable patches thrive, aerate your lawn, and contribute essential plant nutrients to the soil.

This is enhanced by the fact that they live in large aggregations, building nests in proximity to each other. This means you likely have multiple mining bees working hard to make their own nests in your yard, around 100-300mm deep each.

How to Help Mining Bees

There are so many ways to turn your yard into a pollinator garden for mining bees.

'Homeowners can encourage these beneficial insects by providing cover crops, water features, and pollinator habitats of undisturbed land where they can create a nest for their young and leave a population of helpful pollinators for the next spring season,' says David.

Cover crops, like clover (which you can grow with these clover seeds from Amazon) and buckwheat, provide nectar for mining bees with their early blooms. Their roots also keep the soil loose, making it easier for these bees to excavate their nests. It also provides shade, keeping the ground cool for them.

Many mining bees are generalists, so they will also appreciate wildflowers you grow (you can scatter these wildflower seeds for bees from Amazon).

You can also add these bee islands from Walmart to a shallow dish or a bird bath to provide them with easier access to water.

Above all, leaving an undisturbed, sparse, or bare patch of ground in your yard provides these bees with a safe spot to build their nests.

What to Shop

You may find that you don't have mining bees, but rather ground wasps. These critters have an aggressive habit, and they live socially. You can deter them by planting lots of wasp repellent plants in your yard, including aromatic herbs.

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