Leonine

It was a dreary day so I did some dreary tasks, and slowly sank into a slough of despond. It was only when I saw that the forecast was threatening even worse weather that I roused myself, grabbed the camera, and trotted off round the village in search of something interesting to photograph.

Luckily I didn't have to go far to find a garden wall with a magnificent topping of ivy, which was literally humming with pollinating insects. Among the smallest of these, but by far the prettiest, were the male Ivy Bees (Colletes hederae), most of which are still fresh and gorgeous. It won't take his tawny pile long to fade to a dull cream, and patches of it will begin to wear away, especially on his abdomen, but right now this bee puts me in mind of a very tiny lion.

Having recorded all the species I could see on my neighbour's ivy, I thought that I'd walk up into a nearby field where there's a huge old hedge that's threaded through with ivy, to see what other invertebrates I could find there. But as I turned the corner I saw utter devastation stretching away into the distance, because someone had just flailed the entire hedge almost to bare wood, to a height of about twelve feet. I let out an involuntary "WTAF??!!!", and if the perpetrator had still been there we'd have had a conversation that I doubt either of us would have enjoyed, but they'd already left the scene of the crime. I know that the hedge will grow back in time, but the insects, birds, and small mammals need food and shelter now, not next autumn. Sometimes I absolutely despair.