June 17th – This is, to put it simply, the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. Minding my own business – whilst being generally as nosey as ever – I was cycling round Brownhills and spotted, through the noise and fence wobbling, this swarm of what have been since identified as honey bees. There must have been thousands of busy, intertwined insects massed in this clump. It dripped small knots of the creatures like liquid. It was, quite simply, mesmerising. They were no threat, some lazily settled on my jacket, but they were far more interested in the swarm.

Apparently, the bees mass like this and send out scouts to check for suitable food sources. If that’s successful, they start constructing a nest. I’ve seen beehives close up, but this was totally new to me. This is in Brownhills, on a dull Friday afternoon. Nature is all around, just trying to impress us.

Who’d have thought it?