Clouds on the horizon

I really did go out into the rain and take a picture of broiling cloud on the horizon to justify this title. But then, as the rain stopped, I realised this shrub was having its moment and looked good with rain on the flowers. It's not very big, so I've always called it an azalia; I've realised my ignorance today - it's actually a rhodedendron (botanically, azaleas are a subset of rhodedendrons, but gardners treat them as two separate categories): azaleas have five stamens and rhodedendrons have ten, so there is no doubt. 

When we moved here ten years ago, it looked straggly, unhappy and unlikely to survive - hardly surprising as it likes acidic conditions, not our lime-rich Cotswold soils. Today it looks straggly, unhappy and unlikely to survive, but it has never had so many flowers and their colour was never so vibrant. Perhaps it likes clouds on the horizon, which have never been so frequent as in the last 18 months

Five years ago, one of our bee colonies contracted a bacterial disease that kills the young brood, called European Foulbrood. Today I'm pretty sure I have identified a recurrence. This is a bigger deal than just the colony being sickly, because it is a 'notifiable disease'. I'm obliged to report it to the government (Defra) and they will confirm the infection (with guess what, a PCR test!) supervise treatment and issue me with restrictions on moving colonies. There will be follow up inspections of all our colonies this year and for the next two, to ensure absence of infection. Other beekeepers within a 3 mile radius will also be subject to inspection of their colonies

It is possible they will order the destruction of the infected colony, but more likely we will have to shake all the bees on to new frames in new boxes and burn and bury all the old brood. Quite a lot of work and disruption. Outlook unsettled