Wolves Wild

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.

Although the Stratford on Avon Local Nature Reserve has only recently been formally established, it’s been set up on land previously left to its own devices. So there’s already a profusion of wildflowers, bushes, scrub and woodland. These knapweed flowers were attracting plenty of bees.

Hanging from branches of a weeping willow, safely high enough to be out of reach of my outstretched arms, a spider’s web which is not built to catch prey. It’s the web of a nursery web spider, formed to hold the eggs and as a protected environment for the baby spiders until they have grown big enough to face the world.

I couldn’t get up near enough for a close inspection, but I think the black dots are the as yet unhatched eggs.

A short walk a few days ago in the recently established Stratford on Avon local nature reserve. This  bittersweet (sometimes called woody nightshade) still had a few flowers, but the berries were quickly ripening from green to red.

A common drone fly [Eristalis tenax] feeding on buddleia flowers. The insect is indeed one of the commoner hoverflies.

The buddleia flowering season is now coming to an end. While it lasted, rgw plant attracted what’s probably been the best showing of a range of butterfly species this year.

Red admirals have been among the more co-operative, spending some time feeding on the lower branches, nearer to my eye level. There’s two individuals in this set.