I have it on good authority that this bee is definitely a female of the Lasioglossum (sweat bee) genera. Pouring over my shiny new bee book with several poor photos of the bee in question leads me to believe I have narrowed down the species. It is apparently common and certainly local to me as they are chalk-land specialists.
Black-mouthed Furrow Bee Lasioglossum laevigatum
As you can see in the second photo in particular this one has already collected a huge amount of pollen… surely it would be like you or me carrying a 28k sack of spuds on either arm! This one was moving about visiting all sorts of flowers but particularly liked the blooms of this gazania.
