Looking around the garden in the past few days, I noticed how many purple flowers we have. Purple is a favourite colour; it has regal and spiritual connections and resonates with the violet in the rainbow spectrum.

It’s also a colour which attracts bees – an insect which is so important yet under threat from the use of pesticides.

When taking these shots of the purple flowers I forgot that we have lavender too. It’s just coming into flower and my hope is that it will be visited by as many bees as are in the neighbourhood.

I belong to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. I’m a fairly passive member; I support their work and do my bit in my own way by encouraging an interest in bees with my grandchildren. Granddaughter has moved from being scared of bumblebees to being being brave enough to stroke one carefully (I wrote about this last year) while it’s immersed in its task of collecting pollen. Her interest has spread to liking hoverflies and being fascinated by them.