A Dragon

This morning I went up the Country Park to see if I could find some butterflies, I saw a Ringlet (see Extra) which I haven't seen for ages and a Tortoiseshell, but it must be too early. So I went down to the large pond and got photos of this dragonfly and a damselfly (extra) which my friend tells me are a four spotted chaser and a common blue. Still enjoying the tennis :)

Day 480 / Day 54 of Step 3 of Roadmap Easing (for my record only)
England's R no. starts going up again to 1.2-1.5 with a daily growth rate of 3 to 7%. In the w/e 3/7, the ONS infection survey of private households shows across the board rises to 1 in 160 in Eng with the virus, 1 in 100 in Scotland, 1 in 340 in Wales and 1 in 300 in NI. Levels of infection are growing in all age groups, and the percentage of those testing positive is also rising. There were 35,707 new cases today, up 32% on last Fri (a slowing???). The i newspaper is reporting a new variant being investigated in the NE, which is seeing very high infection levels - it was likely to happen with the strategy being adopted. The EU regulator has found links between heart inflammation after the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines - mainly within 14 days and quite rare side effects. It also advises people with the rare capillary leak syndrome (CLS) to avoid the J&J vaccine. The Transport Minister says it's 'sensible' to continue wearing masks on crowded public transport - we know that, it's the Govt that doesn't! Dr Jenny Harries confirmed that ministers plane to 'tune' the NHS Covid app to bring down the numbers being pinged and told to self isolate, but Sir Keir Starmer says this is like taking the batteries out of the smoke alarm. The problem arises as Govt strategy is leading to high infection levels and people deleting the app to avoid self isolation - thereby defeating the purpose. The Chancellor is urging workers to return to the office - a bit bizarre as Govt policy is leading to large infection levels and lots of people off sick and self isolating!