David

Quite a common butterfly where there are lots of trees and shrubs – their original habitat was clearings in woods.

A parasitic plant.

These were growing in the meadow in the Coombes Valley RSPB reserve, near Leek.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davea2007/5951314370

The mating ground of these Common blue damselflies was a small pond on the Coombes Valley
RSPB reserve in the Staffordshire moorlands.

The pictures were taken early in July.

Reed leaves above, and a foxglove flower below.

Willowherb flowers with two of the bees they had attracted. Rosebay willowherb is often one of the first generation of plants to colonise cleared ground, and often grows in clumps (bottom picture).

This picture, taken at the very start of July, shows one of the parent birds (flapping wings) together with young which already looked almost full grown.

A bee gathering nectar from bramble flowers. There is a tiny beetle to the right of the bee’s thorax in the first picture.

The ants crawling along this painters palette plant reminded me of the M.C.Escher woodcut Möbius Strip II [www.mathacademy.com].

There have been many fields with a mass of poppies this year. This one was just off the B4176 by the junction with Tinkers Castle Road.

And these were between Tong and Shifnall.

This was one of a pair of coots which were vigorously building or rebuilding their nest at the very end of June.