Green or Blue

Hardly set foot out of the house today and when I did it was only to take a walk in the garden for a photo for the blog in the late afternoon sunshine. I took one of the agapanthus that is now flowering but then I noticed an adjacent yellow plant that was covered by green bodied flies commonly known as bluebottles. Green? Blue? Either way they're not very pleasant creatures in my book so a quick click of the camera shutter and I was back indoors!

Rescued

Just had to rescue a bee from a water butt. We left it to dry out in the greenhouse for about twenty minutes and then it flew off into the sunset, no doubt to add swimming to its CV.

First Of The Season

With a picture of a bee on Sunday and a moth yesterday, I could have continued with the insect theme and posted an image of a greenfly today. For most of the day whenever we have left the house we have been plagued by the little blighters - there were millions (literally) of them swarming about! However I decided not to give them the satisfaction of having their photo taken and resorted to my original plan postponed from yesterday.

This peony flower burst from its bud yesterday and became the first to do so. Two more have opened up today and it looks as though there will be two more tomorrow. There are also another twenty plus on the plant so I'm hoping the rain doesn't come and dash the plant down as has been known in the past. I am still astounded at the rate at which the peony grows. Only about a month ago it was hardly showing and now it seems to be growing as I watch it. Hope it's not related to the triffids!

As Busy As ....

You should all know the continuation of "As busy as" is "a bee" and we've heard of their decline recently so it was good to see one feeding on the heather in our garden today.

According to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, the UK had 27 species but 3 are now extinct and others are seriously threatened. As they are important pollinators they are vital to the human race so we should welcome them in our gardens.