David

A large French funnel spider drags its prey, probably a millipede, into its web.

Males of the beautiful demoiselle damselfly are mostly a striking electric blue colour.

The females are more subdued colours, which also vary more depending on the lighting conditions.

The ones shown here had territories along the Staffs & Worcs Canal, which they watched while perching on vegetation in the hedge by the towpath.

Yellow staining agarics look like field mushrooms, though they can smell of phenol.

When they are cut, the exposed flesh turns yellow. When eaten, they cause a series of unpleasant symptoms. Because they are so easily confused with field mushrooms, they are the commonest cause of mushroom poisoning.

Blue butterfly, possibly a holly blue, which settled on a bramble leaf by the canal towpath near Compton.

Large, unidentified bracket fungus growing near the base of an old oak tree. Its edge looked like a sponge and seemed to be exuding a clear viscous liquid.

I didn’t test to see if it had a sponge-like consistency.

UPDATE – now identified as the weeping polypore, also known as the oak bracket or as the warted oak polypore (Inonotus dryadeus).

Carp in the West Park boating lake, looking like it’s trying to get onto the bank.

The carp are an impressive size, but only rarely visible from the shore.