Thistle flower with white-tailed bumble bee

Thistle flower with white-tailed bumble bee

Thistle flower with white-tailed bumble bee scrambling round after pollen. In one of the pictures, a tiny mirid, Plagiognathus arbustorum, put in a brief appearance – see cropped image for a closer view.

Teazles taking over, Compton Park pond

Teazles taking over

When the pond at Compton Park was created, back in 2013, there were two or three teazles in the wetland vegetation planted around the water. There’s now a mass of the plants, as the flowers and shrubs of all kinds get increasingly dense.

Azure damselflies resting on bullrush leaves

Azure damselflies resting on bulrush leaves

Resting on bullrush leaves on the pond at Compton Park, two azure damselflies. When the pond was created (2013) there were hundreds of blue damselflies (azure, common blue and blue tailed).

There has been no maintenance since, so the pond is being taken over by the vegetation. There is now only a tiny area of open water. The day these pictures were taken, there were only these two azure