Nature notes

Awful not having a pliable camera; there is nothing to hang the
chatter on. So now I'II just ramble...

I write on a little balcony because its the only wifi spot in this
house (the one with my studio in where Im allegedly working.)

Opposite me is the terrace where there is a bee hive in the wall.
It is ambushed every morning by hornets who pick up bees as
they fly out and carry them off. At first I was outraged and
depressed by these assults but now I see the hornets rather as
farmers, taking beasts away and using them. The bees carry on
carrying on; though they have been smearing one of the stones
in the entrance to the hive with something that may discourage
the hornets because there seem to be less of them.

Just watched one take over a minute to pick up a bee - the bees
are getting better at avoidance too.

The redstarts are increasingly cheeky. One is on the balcony
now, evaluating me as breakfast.
The swifts and martins are getting their flight plans sorted,
judging from the activity on the wires this morning.

Billy, from the other side of Quillan, has been bitten by a
vampire moth. New to me; apparently a recent import. It
used its proboscis as a syringe on his shoulder while he was
trimming a plant - behaved like a bad mossie bite, swelled
up and went down but its left a raised round dark mark with
the diameter of a pencil. Apparently they normally feed on
bats.
I will be watching him with interest.

Annies back!! Only for a fortnight but alive and well.

We had rain last night for the first time since she left, but not
enough - she'd better stay.