Buff-tailed Bee on a Mallow Flower

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buff-tailed bee foraging on a wild mallow flower

Common mallow is a huge favourite of bumble bees as a source of both nectar and pollen. It's a very tough plant that will form a low clump in even the smallest pockets of dry or stony soil. But given better conditions it will grow into a large bush some four feet (1.2 m) high. Well worth planting in the wildlife garden.