Ivy blossom

A sparkling autumn day, pleasantly warm after a chill start. The ivy blossom is providing an irresistible nectar source for many insects just now. We have a sizable stand on a hedge in our front garden, and I was delighted to spot our first ever ivy bees this morning. A hornet was also visiting regularly, trying to catch one of the many wasps and hoverflies that were also feeding.

Pete and I went out to finish off a small piece of local fieldwork later in the morning and I spotted this red admiral, busy feeding on another area of sunlit ivy. It was clearly very hungry, and was so engrossed that I was able to point my macro lens right in its face! If you view it in large you can see that the proboscis is slightly blurred from vibration as it sucked up the delicious nectar. I love the patterning on the underside of the wings - in many ways I think it's more attractive than that on the top.

While we were out I got badly stung by nettles and have since developed an itchy rash on various parts of my body. My first thought was that this was an allergic reaction, but the bumps seem to be long-lasting and are continuing to appear, so now I'm wondering whether it's a coincidental viral rash.