I was walking slowly over towards Trehunsey Cross when I spotted a wasp crawling along a dead stick on the hedge.

I took a couple of pictures and then it appeared to start biting the dried wood.

I was getting in close to take some more pictures when John Deere appeared into view, filling up the whole width of the narrow road so I had to flatten myself back against the hedgerow to let it pass. But the wasp had gone.

What this yellow and black stripey insect was doing was biting off and collecting the wood to carry back to a nest site where it would be chewed up and then used, like mortar, to build a papery nest where eggs will be laid.

Most people hate wasps because they sting and eat garden fruit but until that source of food ripens they are content to collect and eat aphids and small caterpillars, so they actually help gardeners.

As the sun was shining, we carried the garden seat cushions out so we could drink our coffee whilst admiring the garden flowers.

However, before we could sit on the bench beside the pond, a Large red damselfly pitched on the cushion.

It had probably emerged from the pond water and was drying off.

The Large reds are one of our most seen damselflies and are the first species to emerge from the water in the spring, where they have spent the transition from egg to larva.

Hopefully we will see some more damselflies and even a few dragonflies in the garden and they bring a welcome splash of colour to the green vegetation that surrounds the pond, even looking beautiful on a seat cushion.

In reality, anyone with a garden pond would be amazed at the amount of different wildlife in the water.

A couple of earlier arrivals in the garden were two Lily beetles that were content to explore the leaves of a Red campion plant as the lilies are only a couple of inches tall at the moment.

However, once the lilies are full grown, more of these red beetles will appear to start destroying the flower buds.

On the road between St Ive and Liskeard, there are large patches of white flowers on the hedges.

These blooms could be mistaken for Greater stitchwort as they are very plentiful around the parish, but are clusters of tiny, four-petalled flowers of Scurvy grass and their thick heart-shaped leaves are rich in vitamin C, making them a saviour to ancient sailors who, ignoring their bitter taste, ate them to prevent the scurvy disease.

Despite its name, it is not a grass at all but a nice, pretty hedgerow plant.

I walked down towards the River Tiddy where Cuckoo flowers grow in the damp field beside the river.

Also known as Ladies smock, their lovely lilac-pink, four-petalled blooms brighten up damp meadows and the banks of streams.

Their common name probably comes from the fact that they come into flower at the same time in spring when Cuckoos arrive in this country.

The use of Green alkanet began many years ago when Egyptian women would boil its roots to obtain a red dye to colour their hair and to paint their fingernails. I have always thought that the plants should be called Blue alkanet as their vivid blue, five petalled flowers really stand out from the green leaves.

The plant is mostly found in damp woods and on hedgerows in Devon and Cornwall, but they are plentiful on hedges around Quethiock.