Beeflywatch

"Where are all the mining bees?" I wailed at R the other day. "And bee flies! Other people are reporting bee flies, and we haven't got any!" He made a noise of vague sympathy, while trying (and, I have to say, failing) not to look like a man who thinks that his life partner needs psychological help.

Today though, waking to bright spring sunshine, I skipped downstairs (in spirit, at least), and said "Today is going to be the day! I feel it in my waters." It would have been vexing, not to say embarrassing, if my waters had let me down, but they didn't: the garden was teeming with bees, including at least five species of mining bee and three different bumbles; plus two butterflies - a Brimstone and a Comma - and several hoverflies. And best of all (if not for the mining bees in whose nests they lay their eggs), three bee flies; this is a female, and I also found two males.

I took so many photos that I'm still only part way through culling and processing them, and after that I'll need to check some of my identifications before I log them on iRecord. But I'm happy because the recording season feels as though it's properly begun - and that means that the dragonfly days are almost here. I try not to wish what's left of my life away, but after a tediously long winter I'm more than ready to sideline the long lens and concentrate on the macro.

This evening I finished processing my shots of yesterday's Put it to the People march, and I've put a few of them on Facebook if you'd like to take a look. As of this moment the signature total on the Revoke Article 50 petition stands at 5,317,767, which is extraordinary; I'm tracking the total via this web page, which also shows the percentage of voters in each constituency who have signed, the way that constituency voted in the referendum, and the MP's majority in 2018. I'm sure that some MPs will be looking at the figures and becoming concerned about the next election; it's going to be another "interesting" week.