Honey bee

Generally speaking, I'm about as interested in honey bees as I am in cows - which is to say, I quite like them, but I wouldn't go out of my way to look at or photograph them, both being farmed rather than wild species. Though that said, there's at least one feral colony of honey bees around these parts, and as far as I know the same is not true of cows. Whatever, the point is that I'm rather surprised to find that even though I took over a hundred and fifty photos today, this one is my favourite image of the day.

As we were finally blessed with some sunshine this morning, I drove up into the Cotswolds to see if any of the small early butterflies were out at Prestbury Hill. I knew it was a long shot - it's still a tad early, and more than a tad cold, for a site as exposed as Cleeve Common - but since I almost pulled out of what turned out to be a successful and enjoyable workshop on Salisbury Plain a couple of weeks ago, I've committed myself to going for these wildlife opportunities when they arise, rather than minutely calculating the probabilities and then talking myself out of them. The mantra I recited under my breath as I scrambled up and down the steep scree was "If you don't look, you won't find" - and though in the event I didn't find, I can at least tell myself that I looked. If it warms up (as promised) over the next few days, it will be worth me making a return trip next week.

Back at home it was still sunny, and several degrees warmer than up on Prestbury Hill, so I set off on a little bug hunt around the garden, and as I crossed the patio this honey bee flew in and settled on one of my potted anemones. I walked down onto the lawn so as to put the sun behind me rather than behind her, fired off three quick frames, and then continued on my way without giving her another thought. Later, when I saw the images on the computer, I found myself wishing that I'd composed them better - but still, there's something about the simplicity of this, and the limited colour palette, that pleases me. The purple bokeh, should you be wondering, comes courtesy of pot of aubretias.