Tawny

I wouldn't normally try to photograph a small bee with a long lens, except for recording purposes, and I only used the big gear today because the solitary bees were being more skittish than usual, and I was trying to capture some record shots without disturbing them. But to my surprise, the sequence of images I took of this beautiful Andrena fulva working over the cherry tree in the yard have turned out to be my favourite photos of the day.

Other than the fact that I appear, belatedly, to be learning to embrace my creative side, I don't have much news to impart. I saw my first Orange Tip and Holly Blue butterflies of the year today, though they were racing around too fast for anything other than blurry record shots. A water beetle has already moved into the patio pond, even though as yet there are no plants for it to live amongst - when it feels threatened it swims underneath the seats to hide. And the wildlife pond is still progressing well, with almost all the digging now finished.

This evening R and I watched Uncut Gems, which was this week's choice for Lockdown Family Film Club. Peter Bradshaw, who is normally one of my lodestars in matters filmic, thinks that this is some kind of masterpiece. I think it's an evening of my life I'll never get back, with an ending that in no way repays the many, many hours spent reaching it. You have been warned.