The Shakespeare properties in Stratford on Avon aren’t an obvious choice to go looking for wildlife. But the well-kept gardens at thye Birthplace and at New Place attract a range of insects.
Early last month there was a large gathering of hairy shield bugs in the garden at new Place.
Common agrimony growing, and flowering, by the pond in Compton Park.
A clump of onion earthballs – can you see the supposed resemblance to onions?
Chicken of the woods is a bracket fungus, which causes brown rot in the trees it grows on. It’s also a target for the fungi foragers – though not this particular growth, which comes back each year on a fallen willow on the edge of the island in the West Park lake.
A moth, species unidentified, resting up for the day on a window.
The flowering season almost over, the teazles on the pond at Compton Park with their seed heads beginning to ripen.