Hornet

I spent a fruitful morning walking round Langdyke Trust's Bainton Heath reserve with colleagues and two people from National Grid, the site owners. Having had a rather negative response regarding renewal of the lease a couple of weeks ago, this morning's meeting was entirely positive and will hopefully result in a much better working relationship between all concerned, which will benefit the habitats and species that live there.

I didn't feel like going out again in the afternoon, so pottered in the garden for a while, cutting back the rather over-exuberant Bear's-breeches and generally starting the autumn tidy up. While working, I spotted this Hornet land on a leaf of our Mahonia, where it proceeded to clean its antennae. Hornets are regular visitors to the garden, usually only one, hunting for prey among the flowers and ivy blossom. This year we've had them in the kitchen on three nights, attracted to the light. Fortunately, they're pretty docile  - they're definitely one of my favourite insects!

Blipfota has informed me that I'm coming up to my 10 year blip birthday. Rather strangely I started blipping on 5th October 2010, so have actually been here for eleven years and a day. I managed to blip daily for the first two years or so, but then became a little more lax! Nowadays my enthusiasm comes and goes a bit - mostly because I've become more involved in many voluntary activities, which means blipping is often done on the run. I do regularly drop into quite a few journals and like to keep an eye on how everyone's doing, but my commenting is very sparse! 

Thanks to all who help keep the site running, and to every member who makes this a warm and welcoming community. Although I may be less engaged these days, my life wouldn't be the same without Blipfoto!