North Hertfordshire: I’m always pleased when ivy mining bees arrive in our garden and create mini volcanoes of dirt. I also don’t mind when they go again

My garden has got some unlikely invaders. They appeared out of the ground like magic and have completely changed my lawn from flat green grass to being full of grey miniature volcanoes of dirt.

But these invaders are actually friendly and do good for the environment. These mysterious animals are mining bees. Mining bees are not your everyday bees, as instead of living in beehives they dig individual holes and live in them alone. If you have them in your garden, you might be a bit worried with loads of bees buzzing around, but unlike normal bees they don’t sting. Which is great because that means I can get really, really close to them.