Bugs, Bees and Trees.

I noticed this strange little thing on one of the sunflower leaves yesterday. It looks like a type of beetle at the front and a caterpillar at the back.

Here is another one. They are the same colour as the ladybirds which were on the flower itself. I have never seen them before and don't know whether they are goodies or baddies! To squish or not to squish - that is the question.

Can these tiny creatures really have eaten those enormous chunks out of my sunflower leaves?

If so, they should grow rapidly to an alarming size!

This thistle plant was badly infested with black fly earlier in the year and I had to spray it with soapy water to get rid of them. The plant looked a bit sad but the bees don't seem to mind at all. Each of the flower heads had two, three and sometimes four bees at a time on them.

I have been making trees again today - on and off. I get too stiff if I sit too long at it, so break off and do something else for a while.

I wondered what they would look like if I made little trunks and branches.

I quite liked them so made some more. I will try these out along the side edges of the artist's canvas in the hope of making it more interesting. If they don't work like that, I can always use them on cards.

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We had a mild panic this afternoon. My husband noticed that the level of the water in the pond had dropped by several inches. We had no idea what caused it and all was normal just before lunchtime. The chap who put it in for us came to look at it and suggested the inlet pipe to the waterfall may have slipped and caused the water to leak out. So we had to dismantle it and take a look. There were four large frogs underneath it which could be the explanation - they are quite capable of knocking quite large plants off the ledges round the edge of the pond, which is why I fixed up wire coat hangers to hold the new plants in place, and could easily have moved the pipe. Well, I did say I wanted frogs in the pond but do think they could have shown more gratitude when I have provided them with a lovely new home! The pipe has had a clip fixed to stop it slipping back and we are keeping our fingers crossed that the level wont have dropped any further. If all is well in the morning I can replace all the rocks - if I can remember what went where - and top up the pond once more. I've just been out to check on the level and it hasn't dropped any lower since we looked at it three hours ago, so that is encouraging.