David

It’s back. I hadn’t seen the West Park turtle since late May, despite visiting the park often. Finally, recently, it was back in one of its favourite spots for basking in the sun. It had been away so long, a coot had decided that the end of the log was a safe spot to build its nest.

A West Park heron on one of the highest favoured perches, this time with its neck stretched out, occasionally inclining its head at a slightly differetn angle.

My damselfly sightings this year have been very heavily dominated by azure damselflies (often as they were mating). Not as numerous, but still quite abundant, have been banded demoiselles – I haven’t spotted any of the more reclusive and better camouflaged females.

Apart from these, very few individuals from very few species. This blue-tailed damselfly was resting on a leaf at the Compton Park pond mid-month. There’s been no sign of it on visits since.

Another summer butterfly. Small whites, as here, and large whites seem to be even more abundant than usual this year. Not good news for gardeners. The two species also known as cabbage whites, favouring these and other garden plants for laying their eggs, with hatch into voracious caterpillars.

Clumps of bracket fungi growing on the trunks of deciduous trees, often at around chest or shoulder height, chicken of the woods can sometimes be found on roadside trees. This was in a front garden by the Tettenhall Road.

The plants tend to be taller than the more common rosebay willowherb, and more likely to be found specifically in damp spaces. This one one one of the plants in the wildflower area surrounding the Compton Park pool.