Floral

As it feels as though the flowers in the garden will soon be fading, I thought I would collect some to photograph to remind me of them later in the year.  This is the little arrangement I put together.

A sunny morning spent getting some shopping; followed by a dull but dry afternoon spent re-potting some house plants and doing a spot of pruning in the garden.  The garden is full of wildlife at the moment.  As I was cutting back one plant, a large bee/wasp type creature appeared - I need to find out what it was but it had a long sting sticking out of its behind!  It seemed very interested in my prunings so I waited inside until it had departed.  No sooner had it gone and I bent down to pull up a weed and toad lept out of the undergrowth.  Last night I had to rescue a grass hopper which had found its way on to the living room ceiling!

Post-script - have discovered it was a wood wasp, otherwise known as a giant horntail, that I saw in the garden this afternoon.  They are a kind of sawfly and are apparently harmless despite their fearsome looks!  What I thought was a sting is actually an ovipositor which the female uses to drill holes into wood (often pine trees) to lay her eggs.  They are found in woodland and heathland habitats - which are aplenty around here!