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I managed to peel myself off the mattress this morning, after thirty six hours of horizontality. I'm a bit hoarse, with a sore mouth and throat, slightly nauseous most of the time, and and everything I eat or drink tastes weird. I'm also exhausted, and my head and feet seem to belong to different people, but my spine was threatening to spontaneously fracture if I didn't get it upright and moving today, so needs must. Oh, and my mood is not so much down, as permanently livid.

The Covid test I did yesterday was negative, but I have to say that I'm not wholly convinced. I think I should probably do another before spending time near any innocent civilians and risking passing this bug to them.

Because I was up and dressed, and it wasn't yet raining, I tottered off round the village at lunchtime in search of photos. The neighbour who told me - no doubt in a spirit of niceness - when I warned him not to come too near, that I didn't look ill... will probably never know how close he came to having his head bitten off at the ankles.

Anyway, the ivy in the hedgerow by Tilly's field provided me with a nice twofer, which was kind of it. The main subject here is a male Noon Fly, Mesembrina meridiana, an insect which manages to look as though it should be a tachinid or conopid or some such, but is actually just a big muscid or house fly. Its jet black body, with flashes of orange at the wing bases and on the face and feet, are unmistakeable - I spotted this one from several yards away. It's usually seen in late summer and autumn, and can frequently be found basking on foliage or fences, or even on the ground, in sunny areas. It breeds on cow or horse dung, where its developing larvae eat the larvae of other insects, but adult Noon Flies feed solely on flower pollen and nectar. 

One other interesting thing about this species is that the females are ovoviviparous - which means that they carry their fertilized eggs right to the point of hatching before depositing them. According to Wikipedia, each female will lay up to five eggs only, each in a different heap of dung, at two-day intervals.

The much smaller insect sharing this ivy flower is some kind of plant bug, and though the angle isn't ideal I think it's Pinalitus cervinus. This rather variable species has an especial liking for lime, but is also found on hazel, ash and ivy. It goes through several generations in a year, and adults can be found at any time, but they're most often seen in the autumn.