A sad day...

I woke at five and was devastated to read the news that the UK, or more precisely England and Wales, had voted to leave the EU. Although Alex, Ben and I were out fieldworking, which would normally take my mind off things, I spent much of the day alternating between numbness and seething anger that we should ever have been put in this situation by a leader who was trying to bolster his own power base, and completely misjudged the mood of the electorate.

I share a house with four well-educated 19 to 25 year olds, and they, together with almost all their  friends, passionately want to stay in the EU. Their immediate reaction was to look at opportunities to move away from a country they feel has become small-minded and xenophobic. Potentially losing the educated younger generation doesn't bode well for Britain's supposedly brighter independent future. And there's a lot of bitterness that this outcome was largely precipitated by the over 65's, who won't have to live with the consequences for as long. Though, it has to be said, I know plenty of older people who were equally passionate about staying in the EU. A right cock-up all round...

The bee image isn't really relevant to the day, but I escaped to the garden for a while and immersed myself in photography and pruning. I have to admit that was wielding the secateurs somewhat aggressively! And actually bees could lose out by a Brexit- at the moment it is the EU that is upholding the two year ban on neonicotinoids, which are generally considered to have a deleterious effect on bee populations. This ban was opposed by the UK government who want to see them re-introduced.