Oh Lee, what wonderful photos. I love the story of the bird box. I agree that nature gives us so much pleasure. We have blue tits nesting in the tit box this year (having moved the box a few yards to face a different direction). Walking in the rain yesterday we came across a butterfly, we identified as a male Orange Tip, when we got home. I enclose the photos I took. Nothing like your superb photography, but I thought you might be interested. I only have a small digital camera and not much of a clue about settings. I apologise about the size, but I am on my own today, with nobody to advise me.

We have a cotoneaster framing the window where we eat and it is covered with so many bees of different varieties. We are having fun trying to identify them. I saw a Bee Fly last week, but by the time I had fetched my camera it was gone. If you’ve never seen one ,turn it up. My husband made a bee nesting box out of short lengths of hollow bamboo canes and the solitary bees loved it. They laid their eggs, sealed the holes up with mud or in the case of the leaf cutter bees with bits of leaf. Fascinating to watch. Most of them hatched out the following year.

Kind regards
Jenni

Syls