Bee Habitat

When I am going to draw a particular bee it’s important to me that I understand its habitat. I am rather hoping I might find a B ruderatus somewhere on the Fenland and the habitat in parts of Holme Fen is just perfect.

Holme Fen Habitat Sketches
The  dyke banks near the info boards are planted with White Dead Nettle, Red Dead Nettle and Mallow, favourite forage for this bee.

The different shapes of the plants are interesting and I am thinking about the possibility of a pencil background to the bee, but with more foliage than I would normally use.
Curiously there are some Highland cattle grazing on the grasslands. They are used to help manage the pasture.

A gouache sketch looking over the fen past the sleeping cattle to a distant farm. Looking this way there is no sense of the black peaty soil because these fields  have been deliberately laid down to grass.