David

Lords and ladies (more formally, wild arum) flowers when they had first opened, at the start of the month, and before anything had begun to nibble away at them.

The spike at the centre holds the tiny flowers, and later the brightly coloured berries. It’s called a spadex, plural spadices.

Japanese acer near the house and the formal garden at Bantock Park. One of two planted near to each other with leaves which are in different shades of red when they first open in the spring.

One of the West Park magpies in a patch of long grass near the Conservatory. The greylag goslings, recently hatched and still tiny when these pictures were taken, were in the same patch of long grass being guarded by three adults.

I had my suspicions that the magpie was after bigger prey than insects hidden in the grass. So did the adult geese, who made sure the magpie never got too close to the young ones.

The first two pictures are of a bee which helpfully rested on a leaf, in clear view. I’m fairly sure it was a chocolate mining bee. The second one was busy flying from flower to flower. The whole time it was either flying fast and unpredictably, or half-hidden behind vegetation.

I think it was the same species; possibly the same individual.

A mass of white blossom on a flowering cherry at Bantock Park, hanging from branches arching over the path by the small pond.

Small flies warming themselves in the sun as they rested on leaves. There’s more than one species represented here.