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David

Foxglove flower, detail

Foxglove, detail

From the same plant which features as the top picture in the previous post.

Moving in closer brought out the beauty of the individual flower. Taking the picture contre jour has thrown a silhouette of the internal parts of the flower.

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David

Foxgloves flowering

Foxglove

A foxglove pictured early one morning, half silhouetted against the sky.

Foxgloves

Growing wild amongst grasses in front of a bindweed-covered fence.

Foxglove

This one is pictured by twilight on an evening when the badgers didn’t come out to play.

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David

Thistle, flowers about to open

Thistle, flowers about to open

Three views of the same plant. Even the flower buds are spiky on some thistles!

Thistle, flowers about to open

Thistle, flowers about to open

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David

Cherries ripening, East Park

Cherries ripening, East Park

The season’s heavy rain meant that many of these cherries were splitting before they had ripened completely.

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David

Woody nightshade berries beginning to ripen

Woody nightshade berries beginning to open

Berries beginning to ripen – and it isn’t autumn yet, whatever the weather.

It wasn’t long since the same plant was flowering.

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David

Beetle scurrying

Beetle scurrying

This beetle was heading through short grass with a determined air.

Beetle scurrying

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David

Mistle thrushes, East Park

Mistlethrush on the bandstand roof

A young bird was using the bandstand roof as a lookout post. On the picture taken with a standard lens (below) it is barely visible silhouetted against the sky.

Mistlethrush on the bandstand roof

This was probably another member of the same family, hunting on the ground nearby.

Mistle thrush, East Park

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David

Hawkbits

Hawkbits

A few cultivated (or escapee) hawkbits were growing on a lawn which was being taken over by wild ones.

The wild plant has yellow flowers, one to a stem. Cultivated varieties tend to the orange. They are sometimes, as here, yellow towards the centre of the flower, may have smaller flowers and more than one per stem.

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David

Ear fungus on a dead bough

Ear fungus

This velvety-textured fungus can be seen growing at pretty much any time of year. The trees they prefer are elders, as here.

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David

Valerian flowering

Valerian flowering

This medicinal herb has been used as a sedative for at least a couple of thousand years.

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David

Some blackening waxcaps

Blackening waxcap

Blackening waxcaps are small mushrooms which change colour from an ocherous yellow to black. The process has just begun on the first fungus.

Blackening waxcap

These are somewhat further down the road.

Blackening waxcap

Blackening waxcap

From here, the toadstools are well on the way to complete blackening.

Blackening waxcap

They are small enough to be half-hidden in short grass, as are other waxcaps.

Blackening waxcap

These were in the lawn of flats near to West Park.

Blackening waxcap

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David

Zebra spider on a leaf

Zebra spider on a leaf

They don’t trap their prey in a web. Instead, they hunt by stalking and leaping.