David

Another very common wildflower species which was new to me. Another of the plants which was thought to have medicinal properties because of a supposed resemblance of one of its bits to some part of the human body. In this case, the flower buds and nipples.

A picture focussing on the leaves for IDing the plant.

Another hoverfly attracted to ivy flowers. This one’s a hornet mimic hoverfly. There were three or four of them around, but this one was cooperative in staying within camera range. They are easily taken for big, threatening hornets. But they lack stings.

The bright red colour and elongation are unmistakable in ripening rosehips in early autumn, and, as often, a web has also got in the picture.

Ivy is flowering early this year. For nectar-loving insects, there’s a glut at a time when it’s normally a dearth. They are making a bee line for the flowers: bees, wasps, hoverflies and more.

These are hoverflies: tapered drone flies to be specific.

A water plantain growing in the canal at Wightwick. I took these pictures from the same spot as the one of the canalside ribwort plantain (yesterday’s post).

Water plantains and ribwort plantains are not actually closely related. Water plantains were given the epithet because their leaves are somewhat similar to those of the others.

A green shield bug, its predominant colour an almost perfect match for the leaf it was resting on.