Category: David

Looking like circles of rust on the underside of an oak leaf, these are galls, protective covering for the larvae of a tiny wasp, the common gall wasp.

A peacock butterfly was very busy feeding on the water mint flowers in Compton Park pond. As I strolled down to the canal, another peacock was resting on a leaf, spreading its wings to warm them in the sun. Later, as I retraced my steps, the first insect was still where it had been, still busy feeding.

Growing on ivy-covered ground by one of the footpaths through Hawthorn Wood, a shaggy parasol.

This one must have emerged only recently; the cap hadn’t started to flatten yet. These large mushrooms appear in the same spot around this time most years.

Comma butterfly resting on a plastic garden table. Its colours looked faded, and its wings ragged.

Acorn just beginning to develop, looking rather like someone had made a miniature supermarket apple, resting in an acorn cup.

Moth on a plantain in Compton Rough. I noticed the insect when it flew because I got too close to it — then landed on a nearer plant. Tentatively ID’d as a member of the family Crambidae