Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

What a beautiful day today, full sun all day and a max temperature of 17.8C. After a few busy days, I decided to have a chill out day, catching up on some magazines in the garden. Lots of butterflies and bees around, but all 'on a mission' and not staying still for long. The female blue tit has build around half her nest in my bird box with a camera. There's quite a bit of mossy material on the ground by the box, she seems quite fussy as to what goes where and if it doesn't meet her standards, then it's out! So lovely to watch her sweeping the material into the corners with her wings, scratching it tighter with her feet and then doing the final placement with her beak. 

Day 736 / Day 27 of no Legal Covid Requirements in England (for my record only)
In England there's been a trebling of Covid related pupil absences in 2 weeks, although 0nly 2.5% of students on 17th March. More worrying is that 23% of state schools had over 15% of their teachers and school leaders absent. Concerns have been expressed about the impact this might have on exam preparation and grades. Again there's been calls to extend the free LFTs in England, currently due to end on 1st April. The ONS has said that there's no evidence that Covid vaccines have led to an increase in deaths in young people.