Category: David

Horsetail growing right on the edge of the canal at Castlecroft.

When I made an early morning visit to West Park recently, there were three herons on the islands in the lake, all carefully positioned so they were out of sight of the other two.

A young bird was standing tall on the low fencing for keeping rowboats off the island. Another was also on the fencing, stretching its wings for an early morning preen. The final bird was wading off the other island, occasionally lunging after small prey.

The seeds of this flag iris were just beginning to ripen, with the shrivelled remnants of the former flowers still attached above.

Tiny young spiders of the same species as the female in the previous post, in their enclosed nursery web.

There are two webs here. One, on a ragwort, is the one guarded by the spider in the previous post. The other was on ivy just a couple of yards away. The spiderlings in this web had grown a little larger, and begun to spread out through the web.

Female nursery web spider on guard near the enclosed web which is a nursery for her young.

Females are less protective of the males which mate with them. The males bring a tasty gift to the encounter, in the hope that they can get away uneaten afterwards.

Dock seeds (on different plants) at different stages of the ripening process.