Life amongst the hogweed

I seem to have a bit of a thing about head-on shots of insects at the moment. Here is a hoverfly (species unidentified) feeding on the flowers of hogweed in our garden, a plant that persists in reappearing in our flower bed no matter how many times I cut it off at the base. This shot had a bonus, a very tiny insect that I didn't see with the naked eye, which makes the hoverfly look gigantic.

What a busy day. It started with a trip with the fellas to Skipton, to deliver them into the hands of their Mum and Dad who had driven over from BW. And while we both felt exhausted after 6 days of activities, we were sorry to see them go - this is when you wish you lived within dropping-in distance of family.

Then it was a dash back to Lancaster to collect Gus from his overnight stay in the vet's clinic. Oh, was it a relief to see his smiley face, and whole body wagging. He is so much better than he was when he went in, not 100% yet, but well along the recovery road. Thank you for all the well wishes for him.

There was no time to rest before the next contingent of visitors arrived, my old university friend A, his wife J, and two of their children (now very grown up), and all of them have monster appetites. Later we took them for a walk along the shore, and Gus demonstrated his woof weaving around the trees in the little park.

A good day, but it left no time for blipping, hence the back blip of the hoverfly taken in the early morning sun. Overnight the rain came, enough to help fill up the lakes I hope, and it stopped in time for the Shuttlers to get to their christening at lunchtime.