I bin diggin'!

I had a wonderful moment with this tawny mining bee today. It caught my eye as I headed up for a damp walk on the moors. Normally, when I spot them, these bees fly right off when they're around their nests but this one had determination to dig. 

I watched it for a while with my hood up as the raindrops started to fall.  It was doing the same thing over and over. Dig a little bit, stop, back up, walk around in a circle and start again. It felt like it was trying to get out of the rain but however hard it was digging, it wasn't getting a hole that it wanted. It was a touch heart-wrenching.

I decided to lend a hand. 

I found a bracken twig and nearby, carefully prodded a hole through the soft mound, as deep as it would go (you can see the hole in the background, to the left, in the first extra). It didn't seem to mind or notice really so I kept crouching and watching and hoping.

A minute or so went by and it walked around and happened across the precipice of my burrow. I'm sure it did a double take! With not a second glance, it scooted straight down and I walked happily away with nothing but the tip of its tail showing in my man-made mine. 

I remembered to turn around to clock where the nest was and on the way down, I was delighted to find the top sealed over and hopefully, them buried safely inside awaiting some sunshine (second extra).

Fingers crossed.