Refreshment

After the hottest night I ever remember failing to sleep through, the morning was dark and overcast, and eventually it rained a little. The temperature has now dropped into the normal range for a British summer, but we're going to need a lot more water before the garden recovers.

A couple of weeks ago R said, "I'll just pull this thistle out, shall I?", and was startled when I yelled "Noooo!" and flung myself in front of it. "Think of the insects!!" I said. "It's an invertebrate resource!!!" And then, in the spirit of compromise, "You can pull it up when it goes over."

As of yesterday, it was so wilted that it looked to be going over before it had even properly flowered, but the showers yesterday evening and this morning revived it a bit, and brought this flower head back up by thirty degrees or so from what had looked like a terminal droop.  It must have been producing nectar quite well, because the Green-veined White stayed there feeding for a couple of minutes, even as I crept closer and closer with the macro.