Category: David

A patch of bird dropping on a buddleia leaf. A closer look reveals that the bird which left it, perhaps a blackbird, had eaten a hearty meal of beetles. Pieces of exoskeleton had just passed straight through.

Bright red flowers on runner beans, holding the prospect of some nice fresh veg later in the summer.

Common Nettle-Tap (Anthophila fabriciana). It’s resting on a hazel leaf here, but there was a nettle patch only a couple of feet away.

Thistle, with one of the flowers shown fully open, and another yet to open.

The open flower had attracted a couple of tiny beetles. These were common pollen beetles (Brassicogethes aeneus), which show more clearly in the heavily-cropped version of the picture.

Yarrow flowers seem to be particularly attractive to common red soldier beetles this year. This one was busy grazing, walking across the flower while feeding.

A roadside sow thistle as some of the flowers had begun to turn to seed.