"Oh, Crystal Ball, Crystal Ball Save Us All,

....tell me life is beautiful"

It certainly is. The weather hasn't been great but the rain has made all the unfolding leaves, with their various hues, giddyingly green. I keep saying, "burgeoning" to myself. The country lanes are turning into green tunnels and the field edges are a patchwork of cow parsley lace.

It was really cold this morning but dry. Not ideal bug-hunting weather but I knew I would find something if I searched hard enough. I got a nice shot of a pair of fruit flies in flagrante and a small white butterfly, clinging lifelessly to a cow parsley umbel.

I was looking for weevils on the nettles when I spotted this fly. I haven't been able to identify it. It could be a member of the Asilidae, the robber fly family?

I don't know what it is doing either. Is that crystal ball a bodily secretion or could it be a drop of rain that the insect is drinking from? We haven't had rain here this morning though.