Shiny black peacock butterfly caterpillars on their preferred food plant, nettles.
All the pictures were taken on the same day towards the end of July, but show caterpillars of different sizes, an indication of how much they grow at this stage of their life cycle.
Brown hawker, a common dragonfly usually seen on a fast, zig-zag flight patrolling a territory over still or slowly moving water. They rarely seem to slow down except to mate and lay their eggs.
This one was at the pool in Compton Park. The flashes of blue in the picture, not visible (at least to me) to the naked eye, confirm that it is a male.
Old man’s beard (alias travellers joy) is the native clematis species. It can be found spreading over hedges, and sometimes also over fences and walls. The white flowers appear over August and September. The seeds, on the plant over the winter, have a feathery attachment for wind dispersal, not particularly reminiscent of facial hair.
Scalloped oak moth, like many night-flying moths, needs somewhere to rest up for the day. This one chose a rather visible spot ona white-painted house wall, with only landline cable for protection. It survived to fly off that evening, and hopefully late found a safer spot to sleep.
Marsh cinquefoil flowers, some not yet completely open. The plants were growing at the edge of a marshy area in Baggeridge Country Park. The pictures were taken in mid-June, but I only just noticed I hadn’t got round to posting them.
Five (out of an original six) of the cygnets on the West Park lake are now well grown. They have a disconcerting habit of swimming, often quite enthusiastically, towards anyone standing on the shore of the lake. Presumably they have learned that bread is quite likely.
They might be better being more cautious, but it does mean it is easier to get head and shoulders portraits of them.