More perseverance ...

… was required to photograph this carder bee on our caryopteris bush this afternoon. The breeze kept blowing the plant about wildly, and anyway the bees won’t stay for more than a second or two on each bloom before flying off, so many photos were taken but only a few were keepers.

The day started with the discovery of an overnight text from our lovely neighbour, who wanted to share her excitement at having spotted a badger making its way up our road late last night, before diving into a neighbouring garden. Neither she nor I have ever seen a badger in this neck of suburbia before, so we were both delighted. Of course I rushed to check my wildlife camera (not having looked for a few days) but unfortunately there were no badger sightings, just lots of foxes and an occasional hedgehog. (I’m no longer putting out food for the hedgies, sadly, because a member of the local rat population discovered the hedgie feeding station and, after some initial hesitation, dived in and helped himself, which didn’t please me.)

This afternoon we looked after our two youngest granddaughters, L & H, for a few hours. Apart from helping me roll out some Nutty Joy biscuits into balls ready for baking, they also introduced me to the card game Sleeping Queens, the rules of which I had explained to me (and didn’t understand). Nevertheless I somewhow managed to win one of the games, despite doing my best to lose (of course).

Meanwhile, Smithers kept us all plied throughout the day with comestibles and cups of tea in his customary self-effacing and efficient manner.