Back to the garden

This morning I went to meet my friend H, only to look again at our messages and discover that we were meeting tomorrow.  At the least both the car and I got exercise!
This afternoon I ventured into the garden and filled a trug with unwanted lilac branches and hardy geranium.  The bees do love the hardy geraniums, especially the type that are thuggish and grow just about everywhere, despite our best attempts at control.  Pictured is a bee working at said hardy geranium, one of many that spent the afternoon there.  In Extras a collage of the bees on their favourite plants: honeybells and hardy geranium, plus the one that got away!
In other news: both Mr MC and I have had a lot of fun with an app recommended by our weekend guests,  the Merlin Bird ID app.  We have between us heard, amongst the usual suspects, a barn owl, a swift and a goldfinch.  We have seen a goldfinch only twice in our garden but they clearly sing their hearts out from very nearby.