Diligent insects in the summer garden

Allendale, Northumberland There's a low hum from bumblebees foraging deep inside the comfrey flowers

The day presses down, close and sultry, as I sit cross-legged in front of our three compost bins. There's a low hum from bumblebees foraging deep inside the nearby comfrey flowers, but I'm interested in a different type of bee. In front of the wooden bins are some large stone slabs, the thumb-width gaps between them unmortared. There, coming and going, are several large black bees. One lands on my trousers, brushing golden pollen from its body on to the hairs of its hind legs. With pollen sac neatly packed, it flies to the edge of the paving and slips beneath the lip.

The chocolate mining bee, Andrena scotica, is often found in gardens; firm sandy paths and terraces are favourite nesting places. They are solitary bees, the females laying eggs in separate burrows but sharing a common entrance hole. Each egg will hatch into a larva, eat the stored pollen and pupate before emerging as an adult.