Bee-Fly

Bee-Fly, Bombylius major, Arnside

The reward for spending time sorting out the garden on a beautiful Spring day was that it was humming with bumblebees and honeybees. After many failed attempts at the top of a step-ladder to capture a bee in flight homing in on the Amelanchier flowers, this bee-fly appeared in the garden. In case you are wondering, he is a true fly (a Dipteran) and not related to a bee (a Hymenopteran).

He was a bit more obliging. From the whirr of his wings, he appears to be hovering, but if you look closely (or in large) you can see he's stabilising himself with his legs while inserting his long proboscis down the corolla tube.

I resisted the temptation to blip a sunset three days in a row, it looked like a good one though.

I spent part of the morning with my legs in a MRI scanner in Lancaster Infirmary, the latest investigation into the mystery lump on my foot (that is almost certainly a ganglion). On Tuesday I see the surgeon, who I'm sure will try and persuade me that he needs to exercise his skills with the scalpel, but assuming it is a benign ganglion, I shall be resisting that option.

Jean and Simon and little Matthew came for tea. Energy and enthusiasm abound in a three year old. The main excitement was helping Wifie to make a chocolate cake topped with little chocolate eggs - the prime objective being to secure as many eggs as possible. He did quite well, but there were a few left for another somewhat older lad who still has a passion for chocolate eggs.