Wolves Wild

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davea2007/55417550716

The little hooks on the outside of the flower (and later seed-head) of burdocks form to grab hold of the feathers or fur of mammals, to spread the ripened seeds well away from the parental plant. The hooks can also cling quite tightly to items of clothing.

On this plant, the hooks have already proved effective in capturing sugar-stealers, thereby interfering with the dispersal of the seeds of thistles which are also common on the LNR. A flock of goldfinches are also busy ensuring that the thistles don’t become too dominant.

A bee so tiny it kept almost disappearing behind the stamens of the St John’s wort flower it was collecting pollen from. Possibly a bronze furrow bee [Halictus tumulorum].

Another butterfly taking advantage of the flowers of a buddleia bush. This time it was a red admiral, undisturbed even though I was only a few feet away with a camera.

Around here, meadow brown butterflies normally stay in the environment implied in their name: meadows and areas of long grass with wildflowers. So do their somewhat more reclusive relatives, gatekeepers.

This year, both species have been visiting some suburban gardens, admittedly only a few hundred yards direct flying distance from places they hang out every year.

This meadow brown is feeding from the flowers on a buddleia bush in one such garden. It’s a very short clip before the insect decided my mobile was getting to close, so it retreated to a higher flower out of range of filming distance. There had been a gatekeeper around, but it had adopted the more cautious strategy from the start.

A tiny caterpillar, something around half an inch long. It had somehow arrived on the back of a plastic garden chair, under cover, and was slowly making its way along the top of the chair back.

The species is normally a denizen of heathland. Perhaps it’s insinuating suburban gardens in areas where heather is popular.

A painted lady giving prolonged attention to the individual flowers on one of the flower-heads of a buddleia bush, opening and closing its wings as it shifted position.