Another butterfly on its second, summer, generation of the year. Holly blue warming itself by spreading its wings on the canal towpath, then eating or drinking from something insalubrious nearby.
Author: David
Grey spotted amanita mushrooms growing on a front lawn, the larger one already well nibbled, probably by slugs or snails.
The heatwave at the middle of the month brought out the summer generation of butterflies in fair numbers. Here, a couple of the commas which were around.
Lady’s bedstraw flowering. This was in the marshy area around the pond in Compton Park, so possibly part of the package of vegetation planted when the pond wasw created a few years ago.
A heron back again on one of the favoured perches in West Park, a willow growing out over the lake from one of the islands. This time, the bird seemed to be keeping a watchful eye towards the bridge.
A small dusty wave moth (Idaea seriata) resting up in the daytime.
The bright electric blue of male banded demoiselle damselflies. These were resting in the hedge by the canal footpath near Wightwick, where a different one had a territory every few yards.
Knapweeds in the wildflower area in Bantock Park, one with a visiting honey bee.
The flowers on this plant were more elaborate than on the many others nearby.
Azure damselflies, which seem to be outnumbering other damselfly species around here by a much bigger margin than they do most years. This is a male. The females, harder to spot, are green where the males are blue.
Yellow fieldcap mushrooms, which seem to be popping up all over the place this summer. The yellow of the caps is very strong when they first emerge, but fades as the caps widen. These were on a pile of wood chippings in Bantock Park.
One of the West Park magpies, concentrating totally on the task, searching for morsels to eat among the short grass.
Marmalade hover flies, they’re tiny. When seen close to, their most obvious feature, at least to me, is bright red eyes which look disproportionately large. There’s been a lot of them about this month.