DAMSEL

I went for my favourite short* walk this afternoon and felt myself relax listening to birdsong, seeing and smelling the flowers and blossom, watching birds and butterflies and finding my first damselflies of the year. Here's a female large red damselfly, lurking on a bramble leaf, and the extra is the exuvia (empty shell) of another damselfly on a reed leaf.

*All my walks are short ones at present as my knees and feet have become really uncooperative and bloody-minded in the last few months. I'm working on them but I'm not sure they're going to get much better. I'm supposed to be going on a walking holiday with my sisters in a couple of weeks but I think I'll spend a lot of it in the holiday accommodation's hot tub (therapy) and waiting to rendezvous with them in teashops and pubs (also therapy). Shortish flat walks around historic houses, gardens and nature reserves are fine, but hills and uneven terrain are beyond me at the moment.