I actually get a decent variety of other bees, too. Around our estate we are lucky to have a number of people who keep solitary-bee houses in their gardens. These are made from wood blocks with holes drilled in them, or from bamboo cane - or a mixture of both. Here's the one in Ruth's garden:
Back to the Cotoneaster, and here's a solitary bee - I think It's a mason bee, but am happy to be corrected if anyone wants to leave a comment:
Unfortunately my plum tree didn't flower this year, which is a shame as I'll often see two or three different species of solitary bee on the blossom, all foraging together. Actually, that's not even the half of it as far as solitary bees are concerned - there are more than 200 species of solitary bee in Britain. And if you fancy keeping bees the low-maintenance way (guaranteed never to get stung!) then I would definitely recommend getting a solitary-bee house - you'll see a variety of different species over the course of the year, and of course you will be helping your local ecosystem too.
Bumble bees also seem to like the Cotoneaster - not the large buff-tails, but mostly the smaller varieties. There are actually 24 species of bumble bee in the UK, of which 8 are fairly common. This is, I think, a Bombus lucorum (white-tailed bumblebee):
And this could very well be a Bombus pratorum (early bumblebee):
This one is interesting - it's a Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum):
The tree bumblebee is a recent migrant to the UK - first spotted here in 2001. Unlike most bumblebee species, which prefer to nest near the ground, these mostly nest in trees (hence the name). They will quite often nest in bird boxes, if they can find one vacant.
There are a couple of nice identification guides here and here, if you want to try identifying any bumble bees that you see in your own garden.
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