David

Gatekeeper butterfly on a bramble leaf in the midst of a big nettle patch, gnetly opening and closing its wings slightly.

This completes firm identifications for me in 2022 of all the locally common browns: speckled woods, meadow browns and ringlets all IDed some time back.

Finally got around to taking a few test shots using the “macro” function on my moby lens. Not yet time to retire my proer camera, but I suppose I shou8ld remember to use this alternative when there’s an interesting subject ant the actual camera’s at home.

(Eristalis pertinax), tapered drone flies, a large species of hoverfly, feeding on ragwort flowers.

Old man’s beard, sometimes also called traveller’s joy, flowers and flower buds. The resemblance to beards comes in winter, with the long silky hairs on the seeds.

Mistlethrush which has a territory including one of the areas of short grass by the West Park bandstand. Quite often in the early mornings, the bird can be seen inspecting the grass in this area for things to eat.

A Flower bud, a flower and a seed head from the same garden poppy.