Autumn hawker

The weather forecast turned out to be correct - yesterday's storm played through overnight, and today was warm, sunny, and relatively calm. So when R went to Stratford to run some errands at lunch time, I tagged along, and went hunting late dragons along the Avon. There were still at least half a dozen Migrant Hawkers over the reed beds at Lucy's Mill, hunting, bickering and mating; but by this stage of the season they're getting old and tired (aren't we all?), and they need to perch up and rest quite frequently, and it was this that gave me my best photo opportunities of the trip.

Back at home we did more gardening - which is to say, R pruned a large weeping ash tree, and I hung around the wild garden and did some bug hunting, so as to be on hand with a mobile phone in case he slipped and fell off the ladder. (I'm saying no more than that he has a certain amount of form in that regard.) I did find a new (to me) species of leafhopper, but my favourite garden bug photo of the day is this green shieldbug.

This evening R and I watched Rogue Agent on Netflix, which I recommend. It's based - fairly loosely - on an almost unbelievable true story, and it's very well played by its stars, James Norton and Gemma Arterton.

The other thing I'd like to recommend today is Timothy Snyder's lecture series at Yale, called the Making of Modern Ukraine. The lectures are available to watch free of charge on YouTube, and I'm finding them fascinating - both in themselves, but also in the way they frame the Russian invasion of Ukraine within a historical context.