We know about honeybees and bumblebees, but most of the UK’s bees are neither: they’re solitary bees, loners who come in a dizzying range of sizes, colours and varieties – more than 240 species. Have you heard, for instance, of the hairy-footed flower bee? “They’re one of the first bees to emerge each year,” says Laura Larkin, the chief conservation officer at Buglife. “The males have got fantastic little fluffy bits on their feet.”

How about leaf-cutter bees, which chomp “a perfectly circular hole” out of leaves to build their nests? Or bright-orange tawny mining bees, wool-carder bees, ivy bees? “There are so many of them and I’m still learning,” says Kate Bradbury, a wildlife gardener, writer, bee lover and the author of One Garden Against the World. “They’re just great – there’s a solitary bee for every occasion.”

They’re also incredibly important pollinators. “They’re quite messy and just cover themselves in it,” says Larkin. “Because the pollen is a lot more loose on the bodies of solitary bees when they travel around from plant to plant, it’s more likely to fall off; it makes them a lot more efficient as pollinators than some of the other bees.” Estimates suggest that a single red mason bee provides the same pollination level as 120 worker honeybees. Good work, solitary bees.