That pesky human...

...this big bee was pestering me all afternoon. It decided it wanted my lemonade pop bottle. I have photographs of it going round and round as though it were trying to open the top of this bottle.

Then it decided it was interested in my paints and painting.

Then it tried the pop bottle again, going round and round the screw top. Then it came for me and it was on my cochlear processor. It was on the microphone and made a deafening racket... I knocked the bee off and shot indoors.

A cup of tea later I went back outside again. The 10 minute Ryan O’Rourke You Tube cloud painting I was in the middle of was now dried and I couldn't complete it properly. It need to be wet to work into it.

So I started another one. That bee came back and tried to open the pop bottle again, then it came straight for me. I went straight inside....

Half hour later I went out to try again to paint. The sky had dried again and I couldn’t work into it wet on wet. So I did my best with it. I went to open my pop bottle for a drink but I was dive bombed by the same bee trying to get into the narrow neck of the bottle. I threw the bottle in the garden because i didn’t want the bee getting trapped in it. And I shot inside.

A bit later I came out again. Retrieved the bottle. Put screw top on. Put it in the bin. Looked at the two sky paintings, totally rubbish. I am not even going to sign them. I couldnt even do them properly due to that rogue bee.

So the bee is the main photo, and my ten minute you tube paintings from Ryan O’Rourke are consigned to the depths of the extra...


My garden was chock-a-block full of the entire insect world today. Hundreds or thousands of bees and droneflies. None of them botherered me. The only thing the droneflies do is have a face to face confrontation with me...their eyes stare into mine and they don’t back down. No wasps, thank goodness. Hundreds of white butterflies - cabbage whites etc. Daytime moths. And clouds of Peacock butterflies. I have about 20 massive Buddleia bushes in all kinds of purples and two white ones which the butterflies like best, and there were 20 or more Peacock butterflies on each bush. And just one comma butterfly!

I always have at least one day every year, like this, where I have coming on for a few hundred peacock butterflies in my garden. I do have several beds of nettles for their caterpillars.

Hopefully I will be able to paint tomorrow...