David

This bird, probably a well-grown chick, was one of a family of great created grebes on a large pool by the Marsh lane LNR in Hampton in Arden, Solihull.

This pair were on Swan Pool, Sandwell Valley, a week or so later.

One of the same pair, which has just caught a fish.

The pair’s three young chicks. They are much younger than the bird in the first picture – perhaps a second brood.

The plant which inspired George de Mestral to invent Velcro.

This impressive spider’s web was stretched across a gorse bush in Sutton Park. I couldn’t see any sign of the spider itself.

Young of a harlequin ladybird. This invasive species is growing rapidly in numbers and is a threat to native species.

From rather further afield than normal. These lizards were sunning themselves in early August on posts by several of the disused small quarries along the minor road between Ludlow and Burrington.

The broader lizards are the females; the darker small ones are young, born perhaps a month previously.

These birds were seen during a couple of days’ stay in Ludlow earlier this month. It’s a little bit further afield than most postings, but it would just about have been possible to see them on a day trip. The jackdaw, above, was one of the flock in the centre of town, around the church. – This one was on the corner of the roof of Hosyer’s Alms-houses by the church – evidently a regular perch.

A swan feeding by Casemill Weir on the river Tame gave an unusual angle of view.

This swallow on a phone line appeared to be thinking: perhaps about the approaching flight south.

And this young heron was fishing from Mill Street Weir.

Early one morning, early in August, this hedgehog was collecting dead leaves and carrying them back into a pile of pruned twigs. It may have started before I noticed it, and carried on for at least half an hour while I was there, though it made a couple of pauses to retreat into the twig pile when a neighbour’s cat came round on the prowl.

This young frog had just emerged from some water which had been left out in a dark container.

A kestrel hovering over the same spot as it hunted for prey in a field by the side of the Bridgnorth road near Trescott. Just after these pictures were taken it pounced – and caught something.

The crows of Sutton Park are used to human disturbance, and less prone to flee than elsewhere.

This one was playing with a short piece of wood, and taking even less notice of me.

The various shades in its plumage weren’t visible to my naked eye: it looked the standard carrion crow black.