David

This year’s West Park goslings are growing fast. here the large group of Canadas, feeding near the lake outlet.

Recent butterfly sightings. The small tortoiseshell is this year’s second generation, looking newly emerged as an adult. Moved from one plant to another every few seconds even when I was far away, and kept its wings folded together whenever it did land.

Peacock, seen a couple of weeks earlier, was very ragged. The speckled wood also looked like it might have come through some fights.

There had been no sign of black-headed gulls in West Park since the winter. presumably they had all headed off somewhere nearby more suitable for the breeding season, leaving only the lesser black backs.

At the end of May, some of the black-headeds started returning, though still only a handful.

With the restrictions because of the pandemic, I’m still taking a lot more pictures in a smaller than usual area, so yet another varied set of flowers and other plant subjects, wild with a few cultivated.

The long dry spring means there have been far less than usual large fungi this year. A willow bracket and a lone milk cap are the limit of what I’ve spotted recently.

Young coots on West Park lake being fed by the parents.