Red-arsed bumble bee proves a surprise visitor

ON one of those days last week when the sun shone for a while I was sitting in a plastic chair in the vegetable garden with a basket of broad beans that I was shelling for the freezer.

I find this very satisfying work. And I like the way I can let my mind drift as my thumb extracts the beans from the furry interior of the pods.

It drifted to the subject of bumble bees. I planted a lot of broad beans this year and they flowered very well because we had some good weather in the spring. Then the weather broke and I got an average crop of beans rather than a bumper crop.