Thought I was seeing a new species of bee the other day, a bee with huge wings. On looking closer I saw it was a bee carrying large green leaves under its body. It stopped on one of my flower pots that had slate around the plants and pushed its whole body into the slate and pulled the leaves in behind it. Think these are solitary bees that make their nests in gravel, walls etc., This bee makes several visits to the same pot and you can see it navigating its route, so clever.
We have BEEn lucky to have had them come to our garden for a number of years. We put up an insect box, and they now use it every year,also they nest in the bottom of our compost bin. Unfortunately I think the very hot weather cut their season short this year.
I've always fancied having an insect/bee box, did you buy it Butch or make it? Insects are important to the ecosystem and although I hate spiders I try not to kill them or any other insects in the garden, saying that it's nearing spider season and that time when the males are roaming around the house (usually at night) looking for a mate I'd better get my tumbler and card at the ready to catch them.