A building in Glasgow, it seems - can our locals there pinpoint it?
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That is fantastic !
A bit of Googling says
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There’s quite a few of these murals in Glasgow. That one is St Mungo, this one is his mum, St Enoch but the same artist, Smug.
St Thenue (Different name for St Enoch)
And the Billy Connolly collection. This one is from a portrait painted by John Byrne
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Hauntingly beautiful
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Not seen a black Bumblebee before
This fella cruises around like a Hummingbird. Looks like some sort of moth
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The first one is cool-as - it’s a Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa violacea) - I’ve never seen one in the UK as they’re a new-ish arrival due to climate change; depending where you are it could be a new record for your district, so worth checking with local natural history recorders.
Not sure how up-to-date this is, but gives you an idea of its scarcity and some leads to report your sighting.
The other is a regular migrant to the UK, and unsurprisingly is called a Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum), they are fabulous little creatures which have arrived in numbers in the last couple of weeks - a lot of UK individuals originate in Portugal, but they can occasionally come from as far as N.Africa and Turkey.
There doesn’t seem to be a national HHM recording scheme going this year (there often is), but records can be subbed here.
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Never seen either anywhere before, certainly not in the UK! Tons of the latter out front here in Northern Italy. They really are remarkably like Hummingbirds and nearly the size of a small one. Well chosen name!
Colsarnit! You had me going. Well the bee is in the UK now, albeit rare, and HHBs - we’ve got a few cruising the garden right now, and do most years.
Enjoy yer hols!
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Sounds like we need a new planting plan at home 
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Valerian (Centranthus ruber) - this is the one they like best here at least, Buddleia, Sedum (Hylotelephium), Hesperis, Verbena, Knapweed, Lavender, Honeysuckle, Nicotiana, Hebe, Wallflower, Jasmine, Rudbeckia, Toadflax, Phlox, Salvia, Scabious…
Avoid double-flowered and wacky varieties - the closer to the original plant, the better.
You may have some of these already, and chances are they’re attaracting night-flying stuff that you never normally see.
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We saw loads of hummingbird moths in the French Alps last week, I was too slow to get a good photo though!
My sister near Oxford got a great video of one in her back garden last week too!
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Artist Fiona Watson has blundered into my ‘consciousness’, and I have to say “Do Like.”
“AND THEN SONGS FILLED THE AIR”
Considerably more, here.
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Lovely, thank you! I haven’t seen Fiona’s stuff for a few years, must catch up again.
I have a few of her earlier prints, and used to walk the hills with her hubby.
She has always been keen to try different ways of getting a print, and manages to get “feeling” into her work.
She didn’t think this one worthy of wider reproduction but I’ve always liked it (bad photo because of reflection).
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Fantastic, isn’t it ?
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Meh! Not enough orange and doesn’t have a Nato 
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Good to see Big Ben looking resplendent, a shining beacon of the mother of all parliaments. Staggering contrast to the dirty lowlives, shabby spivs and disgusting charlatans currently pretending to govern the country.
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I call it the factory clock at work, and don’t talk about those I work for.
It does look great and will be chiming again before the end of the year once the Great Clock is re-commisioned after its own major service.
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