“Dear Mike and Jenny.
It Is amazing just how much is still flowering in the garden; I have plenty of salvias doing well. This autumn has reminded me how important ivy is as a late food source, nearby the flowers have been alive with different bees including lots of a small furry bodied one with black and yellow striped abdomen, my FSC identity chart tells me they are ivy mining bees. I noticed this large bush cricket on a leaf, I think it is a dark bush cricket – photo attached. A neighbour has had a patch of the earthstars as in the photo, we assumed they had been brought in on some wood chippings. Hope all is well with you. Regards, Mary”