David

Bumble Hole and Warren Hill are two adjoining Dudley Council local nature reserves. Like several of the Dudley LNRs they are on land formerly used for mining, quarrying and industry: in this case around the Dudley canal as it approaches the western entrance to the Netherton tunnel.

As well as the considerable wildlife interest, the reserve is worth visiting to see the remaining industrial remains.  Featuring in the first two pictures is Cobb’s engine house, a Victorian building for the engine which powered the pumps which stopped the mines here from flooding, raising the water to feed the canals.

Here the engine house is seen in its setting above the canal and the entrance to the tunnel.

This is the view just inside the entrance to the tunnel. The dot of white is not the light at the other end of the tunnel. It is the spotlight of a distant oncoming boat.

Very inconspicuous apart from the strong smell they give out when there are lots of lime trees around. These were pictured towards the end of June.

Some of the cacti in the desert section of the Conservatory at West Park.

Another set from the second session for photographers in the West Park Conservatory. These pansies are in one of the backstage greenhouses not normally accessible to the public.

The mechanism for opening panes in the roof of a greenhouse in the Victorian Conservatory in West Park.

Young martins were on the roof of the barn at Boscobel House, using it as a platform to launch themselves to practise their new flying skills.

The flower above has a ladybird disappearing into its interior. The one below has a tiny beetle on one petal.

This tall lichen was growing at a shady spot in the RSPB Coombes Valley Reserve.

This fly has huge red eyes. There is also a golden tinge to its wings and abdomen.

The flowers are the blue structures and the brighter red structures. The pink “petals” at covers of the flower bud. This is yet another plant from the Conservatory at West Park.