David

In my opinion, one of the most fascinating plants in the West Park Conservatory.

The delicate-looking leaves of a papyrus plant.

The Mexican shrimp plant from West Park Conservatory, showing how it got its name.

This tiny snail was resting on the leaf of a bullrush at the side of a pond.

Views across the lower pool in the garden at Wightwick Manor.

The Wrekin as seen from Pattingham hill. In the foreground a potato crop is in full flower. Next come the trees fringing Patsull park, then the Wrekin as the horizon.

Another instalment from the “Access all areas” session for photographers at West Park Conservatory.

The Walls is an Iron Age hill fort, a prehistoric village. It lies on the edge of Chesterton, near Worfield.

Its hard to see the size of the earthen bank that surrounds the Walls. Someone in Victorian times thought it would make the bank look more impressive to plant trees all along the tops.

The field, this year used for a cereal crop with poppies growing all around the perimeter, gives an idea of the scale of the fort.

The uppermost bud was fully flowering; the others hadn’t even started to open when this picture was taken at the end of June.

The Million (above) is Forestry Commission woodland near Enville. The trees are almost all conifers, with an unwelcoming bracken and bramble ground cover.

Highgate Common is not far away. The sandy heath there is fringed by mainly deciduous woodlands – here mainly birch. Grasses and wild flowers are much more prominent in the undergrowth.