A butterfly and bee both like Borage

I finally reached the garden with some time on my hand late in the afternoon. I hadn't noticed the weather improving, the warm sunshine having broken through the clouds and the lack of wind making it seem like a proper summer's day.

I had a snack in the cabin and then went down the bottom of the garden to see what I could find. The first thing I noticed was that the profusion of plums on our small dwarf tree were still there. Normally they seem to be snaffled by unknown beasts, possibly deer or badgers, before they ripen properly. But not this year.

I spotted a hovering insect which I couldn't identify, perched on the skin of a plum, happily sunning itself, and oblivious to my posturing as I looked for the best angle and light. I thought I would feel the plums fro ripeness, but they were all fairly hard. It occurred to me that the insect would probably be attracted to ripe fruit, so I felt the plum it had been sitting on, and lo and behold it was soft. Delicious too, as I then found out. Perhaps I will find a net to go over the fruits before they get taken or fall to the ground. A few were already there.

I then got interested in flying insects and started to see several of them, including bees, flies, hover flies and butterflies. I found some the size of bumble bees congregating around the invasion of Himalayan Balsam, which our neighbour brought in to plague us a couple of years ago. I try to kill them before they get to flower, but I had missed this bunch. However the bees didn't mind, diving far into the flower's bell, to disappear from view. I tried to get flying shots of them as they exited the flower, but I haven' sorted that out yet.

A white, and then a brown butterfly caught my eyes next, and I followed the brown one as it circled and flitted from plant to plant, but it was very flighty.

Finally, it landed on a self-seeded Borage plant, down near the wild part of the garden, spread its wings and soaked the sun's rays. To my delight a bee decided to sidle up and penetrate the Borage's flower, just below the butterfly's perch. They didn't seem perturbed by each other, so I thought this unusual event would be my blip, despite there being technically better shots today.

Roll on the weekend.

........

From wiki:
Borage, (Borago officinalis), is also known as a starflower. Vegetable use of borage is common in Germany, in the Spanish regions of Aragón and Navarra, in the Greek island of Crete and in the Italian northern region Liguria. Although often used in soups, one of the better known German borage recipes is the Green Sauce (Grüne Soße) made in Frankfurt. In Italian Liguria, borage is commonly used as filling of the traditional pasta ravioli and pansoti. The leaves and flowers were originally used in Pimms before it was replaced by mint or cucumber peel. It is used to flavour pickled gherkins in Poland.[citation needed].

Naturopathic practitioners use borage for regulation of metabolism and the hormonal system, and consider it to be a good remedy for PMS and menopause symptoms, such as the hot flash.[citation needed] Borage is sometimes indicated to alleviate and heal colds, bronchitis, and respiratory infections, and in general for its anti-inflammatory and balsamic properties.[citation needed] The flowers can be prepared in infusion to take advantage of its medicinal properties. The oleic and palmitic acid of borage may also confer a hypocholesterolemic effect.[citation needed].

Borage is also traditionally used as a garnish in the Pimms Cup cocktail, but is sometimes replaced by a long sliver of cucumber peel if not available. Borage leaves have a cucumber like flavor.