The swallows flit in and out of the stable, greeted by a chorus from their open-mouthed chicks. The farrier is here applying a hot shoe to a hoof, and the air fills with a cloud of smoke.
Then, beside me, a bee emerges from the brickwork. The weather has been distinctly bee-unfriendly of late, as the rain continues to fall, but this one is a fine specimen: fluffy, ginger, with big black eyes and long antennae protruding above. I’m face to face with a solitary bee, one of the 250 species found in the UK. Solitary bees live up to their name – they don’t nest in colonies, although often good nesting conditions can attract many individuals to the same area.
