Green Dock Beetle

A stunning little beetle - for an idea of size the white speckles of dust on his back are pollen grains from the flowering chestnut he was underneath.
I added the little insert as it shows a pregnant female - she grows so much her wing casings are completely distended and she looks rather comical, though I suspect she's actually rather vulnerable in this stage.

We headed out early to do chores - which somehow became spending a small fortune at the garden centre, hmmm. But at least the beds I've worked so hard on are now planted, hopefully things will survive the current rabbit plague (Pushka is doing her best, but until the builders fit the new gate it's a losing battle) and become established.
It's odd how the halcyon mind works; the farm in Norfolk is festooned with fuchsia bushes - a happy memory of youth - oddly enough they were all *I* picked today. Must have been rattling around my subconscious - see below.
The weather forecast was spot on - the first rumble of thunder at 3pm, torrential by ten past. So an afternoon catching up with emails, cooking for the week ahead and booking flights for a meeting in Crozet , France (which amusingly autocorrected to Cromer). I'll be in East Anglia for a flying visit next week, but Cromer will have to wait.