Jim wrote in
:

wesleyn wrote:

Hi, my name is Neil, I'm a product design student in
Brighton. I'm looking into possibly doing a home beehive
design, and yourselves as gardeners have probably
encountered the odd bee or two. I have a quick question
for you then, are you;

these are not the kind of bees you put in hives. I was
within a couple of feet of them and still used the zoom on
my camera.

why? bumblebees are very laid back & passive. you can pick
them up if you do it slowly as not to startle them & they will
crawl on your hands.
another good pollinator bee is the Orchard bee. i have lots
of those around & one of my winter projects will be building
orchard bee condos (they live in little holes, so a chunk of
wood with a grid of holes hanging on a tree or the side of a
building near the gardens pleases them)
lee