David

It’s getting to be that time of year when the various sorts of fruits and berries start to fatten up and to change colour as a visible sign of how ripe they are. These were on a cotoneaster in the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve at Newbridge.

The first heron we’ve seen in West Park for some time: probably the first this year. It was on one of the fallen willows on the island, a popular perching point for visiting herons, busy preening its feathers. By the next day it had gone.

A sugar stealer: feathery wind dispersed seed, possibly from a willowherb, trapped a few inches from the soil by the vegetation it landed in.

The honey bees preferred to gather from water mint (yesterdays’ post). Bumble bees were all on those teazles which were still flowering. This teazle was also distinctive in having white flowers: most, including plants near this one, are purple.

A frog lurking in a garden, half-hidden by grass and other vegetation.

Compton Park pond on a sunny day last month. There were quite a few bees on the remaining flowers. The ones on the water mint were all honey bees. As far as I could see, the water mints were the only flowers honey bees were visiting.

A group of boletes growing under a beech tree by Richmond Road: probably associated with the tree. I find many boletes hard to distinguish, but iNaturalist suggests these many be rooting boletes (Caloboletus radicans)

One of the teazles on the Compton Park pond, flowering finished. Light coming mainly from behind emphasised the prickly seed head and stem, and caught the small web which a spider had made.

Cats aren’t the only creatures driven wild by catnip. Lots of bumblebees were busy on the catnip flowering in the Dutch Garden at Bantock House recently.

Two white butterflies were in the air over the Compton Park pond recently, clearly interacting. I wasn’t sure whether it was foreplay, or jousting over control of a valuable territory.

Then one of them veered away and flew off. The other landed, and started feeding on one of the water mint not far from me.

It was a green-veined white. I’ve now seen all the four species of white butterfly which I normally see locally, although in much smaller numbers than usual – one lone individual in the case of orange tips.