Chironomid

A rather home-based day. I dropped the car into the garage first thing in the morning - during its recent MOT the technician had spotted a minor oil leak , and I needed to get this fixed before driving to Devon next week. Just before lunch I went for a much needed haircut, always a relaxing and sociable experience.

Later in the afternoon I walked down to the river to examine more catkins - the one in the image is Almond Willow Salix triandra, which is quite distinctive as each catkin flower has three anthers, while most other species have only two. I must admit I'd never realised quite how much of it there was in The Boardwalks NR! This tiny non-biting midge was using it as a convenient sunbathing platform.

I'd been expecting to fetch the car towards the end of the afternoon, but the fault required replacement of two oil seals, which had to be ordered in, so no car until sometime tomorrow.