The insect was after the nectar. The flower wants its pollen moving on. I wanted the blackberries, the seeds of which will in turn be distributed. We all get something out of the transaction.
A versatile flower, the rose is used for decoration, food, flavour, giving to people to indicate affection etc. Those thorns are damn prickly though. The one that has taken over one corner of our garden is an irritant rather than a decoration. This isn’t it, however; this one is to be found in Hebden Bridge town centre.
Let it be said that I find bananas to be possibly the most revolting of all natural foods: I really cannot stand them. If they were the only foodstuff that I had access to, I’d starve to death. Which is a shame, because bunches — literally — of them grow all over St Helena, including many in Gareth’s garden, as shown here. And I quite like their strange, purple flower/appendages, dangling down like strange alien tongues. But even after they ripen, I’m not going to eat any, I can assure you.
I’m not convinced about all the technicalities of this shot but it was done with an extremely long zoom (x80 at least) and in that respect it’s pleasing enough. We don’t really pick up any of the details on the wings of the Cabbage White but let’s not get too ambitious, eh — at least, not with my kit.
Respect the pollinators. This bee was giving our incipient loganberries some care and attention. It had put in a longer working day than me, anyway.
I’ve been suspicious before that certain flora depicted on here are in fact versions of ‘Audrey II’, the man-eating alien plant from Little Shop of Horrors. Here’s another one. Of course, the connection is made because the plant in the movie is so well-designed, and takes characteristics of real plants as the basis. But it still works. (It’s a foxglove by the way.)
Mathilda the cat has appeared on this blog more often than any other animal but definitely moved away, her last appearance (of six) being on 3/3/20. This puss is a tortoiseshell as she was, and appeared today in the same location — but it is not her. I got a fairly friendly reaction however, so perhaps s/he is putting in a bid for repeated appearances, just as Mathilda did.
This is a photowhack — the only picture I took today.
Today was the first day of my Easter holiday, and I definitely did very little. This insect was far busier. I know that even without deeply entering into its lifestyle, or anything.
As reliable an early signifier of spring as anything else — and the crocuses are early this year. Nor has their February arrival diminished them in number, certainly not on this lawn in front of Lancaster Castle, anyway.
Being 42 
