Widely distributed throughout England, Wales and the Channel Islands, but scarce in Scotland, where it is known only from scattered coastal sites as far north as Invernesshire. Published records from the Outer and Inner Hebrides (Heslop Harrison, 1952) are almost certainly misidentifications of Colletes floralis. It is also scarce in Ireland, with records from Kilkenny, Wexford and Down. Widely distributed in Europe, occurring from Fennoscandia south to Austria and northern Italy, and east to Iran. Also reported from Mongolia and the Gobi.
Status (in Britain only)
This species is not regarded as being scarce or threatened.
Virtually ubiquitous in lowland Britain and it is the only Colletes regularly observed in urban localities, including private gardens.
Univoltine; mid June to mid September.
Surprisingly there are no records for the British Isles but it is almost certainly oligolectic on Asteraceae, as in Germany (Westrich, 1989).
Most commonly nests in dense aggregations in sunlit, vertical surfaces such as coastal sandstone cliffs, sand pits, roadside cuttings, cob walls and in soft mortar joints of brickwork. The bee has gained some notoriety in undermining mortar joints, in extreme examples leading to serious weakening of masonry, with piles of excavated sand collecting at the bases of affected walls…. BWARS