Sentry duty

Not sure whether this wasp was on duty or just sunbathing by the opening to the wasp nest. We usually have one somewhere in the garden every year. Fortunately they have not reached the angry stage and I have been hovering nearby trying to take a shot but they come and go several at a time so quickly that most of my pictures are blurred. They can be a nuisance since they eat all the surface off our wooden entrance gates and garden furniture to make paper for their nest.

T's birthday today. After a busy day, eight of them are going to the Thai restaurant this evening to celebrate. A couple of mates have travelled up from Cornwall and Sussex. Another has just finished a sponsored cycle ride with his 65 year old father from John o' Groats to Lands End. All went well and the pair arrived back safely having made some money for Shelterbox (the Westcountry charity that make the survival boxes that are sent out to disaster areas anywhere in the world).