This afternoon I spotted a huge Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queen on the Buddleia. Well that’s not so unusual. However this one seemed very lethargic, but she was crawling around sucking up nectar. And she was absolutely smothered in pollen as you can see in my photo. I watched her, on and off, on the same Buddleia flower spike for maybe 10 minutes, although the last time I looked she had gone. I suspect she was probably at the end of her life; or was maybe a new queen that’s been parasitised.

Also around on the Buddleia at the same time, there was a magnificent Hornet-mimic Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria) almost the size of the top joint of my little finger. But it was much too skittish to have any chance of a photograph.