David

A group of mallard ducklings and the mother duck dozing on the side of the canal at Aldersley, almost directly opposite the canal junction. One of the first things I saw coming home from my second COVID jab.

German wasp allowing me to get quite near for some close-up shots as it rested, warming itself, on a holly leaf. Despite the name, it’s one of the commonest wasps around.

To me it looks like a wasp, but the AI identification on iNaturalist claims it is a species of nomad bee. If so, it’s a kleptoparasite, a “cuckoo bee” – laying its eggs in the nests of other bee species, like cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other birds.

Variety of fancy tulips. Most are currently on display in the Dutch Garden at Bantock House, with the white ones in a front garden.

Coot chicks, tiny and looking like they were only recently hatched. With one of the parents on the nest, right by the shore of one of the islands in the lake at West Park. The other parent was swimming close by.

Orange tip butterfly, a female, so lacking the orange tip to the upper wings, but with the green pattern underneath, feeding on honesty flowers.

This one was tiny: about half the size butterflies of this species normally are.