Crabby Cuddles Up For The Night

Weather's been a bit rubbish in Essex today. Dull, cold and windy. My dog and I went macro togging regardless. My swathe of greater stitchwort was covered in bees. I photographed various members of the Nomada family, also known as cuckoo bees. I watched a very striking, fuzzy, ginger bee bump into grass and stitchwort stems repeatedly. I thought it was trying to land on a flower. Then it disappeared between the stems and down a hole. I've never seen the behaviour of a tawny mining bee before.

I photographed my first crab spider of the season on an open daisy this afternoon. I wasn't happy with the results. The above shot was taken at around 6:00 pm using flash. Crabby was still sitting on the same daisy but the petals had closed around it. :)