HAIRY-LEGGED MINING BEE

Or to give it its other names - Dasypoda altercator or Swammerdam's Bee.
I was busy cooking our bacon and eggs this morning, when Anna called me outside to look at something she'd found.
There on my newly dug-over and flattened out "wild meadow plot" (sowed 3 days ago), were a few holes in the packed tight sandy soil, and a tiny bee trying to make another hole.
The striking thing about this bee (obviously a solitary mining bee) were its bright yellow hind legs.
A delve into my insect field guide, and a spot of research on the web, and we think we have a few Hairy-Legged Mining Bees nesting in my (bare but seeded at the moment) wild meadow plot.
Wonderful little things, with as I've said, VERY distinctive bright yellow hairy hind legs (the female has longer hairs than the male, so I'm told).
I cannot find a decent photo of this species on the web, so I've uploaded an illustration.

This species is normally confined to coastal dunes and or heaths, in the south of the UK.
It is found locally though, as far north as Oxfordshire, in for example dry, sandy gravel pits (such as Sandford Pit). What it needs is dry, well-drained, sandy soil. Our vegetable plot and wildflower meadow certainly fits the bill - it is very sandy indeed!
So... a bit of a national rarity - living in our garden! I'd better declare it an SSSI!