Christine's walking & birds blog

Two Pellucid hoverflies (Volucella pellucens) were on the Hebe yesterday. They're very striking, but also wary and difficult to approach.



The Hebe flowers seem to be fading fast this year, and there seems to be an air of panic among all the insects feeding on them - as if they know it's a race against time. They drive each other away from the best flowers and are more aggressive towards me than they have been other years.

There were half a dozen honey bees among all the bumblebees and hoverflies, so our little garden is doing its bit to help an apparently endangered species.

There was also a wren in the garden yesterday, singing absent-mindedly to himself. And this morning, the peanuts attracted three blue and two great tits.