Coping With Lockdown II: Picture This

I'm not exactly David Bailey. I've got no skill or training with a camera - more just pointand shoot. I'm very much in awe of some of my friends on social media, who have technical ability and artistic talent in spades. I see many achingly beautiful or provocative images every day.

But my camera phone has taught me a lot. Not so much technically (!), but it has got me to look at things - in the garden, and out in the countryside. I genuinely think I see the world around me differently now - I certainly notice more about what's going on, and in closer detail. Particularly the everyday; common flowers and insects.

I don't think I would have bothered snapping things if I hadn't had to do it for work. We've got social media accounts which need feeding.

It was to that end I discovered that we had Colletes hederae in the garden, before they became a fashionable bee in the UK. Would I have noticed this very smart and - then at least - very rare - late season bee if I hadn't been wandering around in the garden looking for something to photograph? At the time my sighting was of real scientific interest.

You should open an Instagram account now, if you haven't already. It's the warm cuddly end of social media. You will see some wonderful things there, and you can post your own photos. It doesn't matter if no-one sees them or not - it's a great discipline. No one is judgemental. It make me ask myself if I can take a photo with a story, or something that's a bit off beam.  Over time your collection of photos forms a visual record too, associated with good times and bad.