Mrs Russell at her bees

Cathleen has long wanted to get a hive of bees, and her wish was granted a couple of weeks ago when one of the Dunoon beekeepers, a group she joined last year, managed to find her what they call a "nucleus". They also got her a hive, which survived the gales last weekend. This was my first chance to get some pictures of her working with the bees, and using the bee smoker which you can see in the bottom left hand corner of the picture. And yes, the black shape on the frame she is holding (one of 10 in the box) is bees - lots of them

It has been a glorious sunny day - a real reminder of how good it can be, and also of how bad it has been this summer. Fortunately today was the day of the Sandbank Primary "Bikeathon" rather than last Sunday !