I thought at first it was crows mobbing a buzzard. When I looked properly, one of the birds was indeed a buzzard. The other was a heron, possibly the young bird pictured in a post a few days ago.
Category: David
Teazles, Nature Reserve, Stratford
Teazles, recently flowered, in the recently created local nature reserve by the river in Stratford on Avon. The plant was actually a lot more abundant there before it was landscaped into a nature reserve. It had been the dominant vegetation in rough ground, the former site of the town’s landfill site in the middle of the last century, now converted into a pool and scrape.
Young heron, Nature Reserve, Stratford
In the recently created local nature reserve along the Avon near the centre of Stratford, a young heron on the prowl.
It was early August, at the height of the long dry spell, so water levels were low. While we were watching, the bird made several strikes for prey, but didn’t seem to be having any success.
Dragonfly and damselflies, Stratford
A male banded demoiselle damselfly rests on a leaf overhanging the River Avon at Stratford, while a male broad-bodied chaser dragonfly is in the middle of a riverside footpath nearby. Both are hoping to attract females.
Pears, Shottery
pears ripening on their tree, and a wasp grateful for a windfall. The orchard, Anne Hathaway’s cottage, Shottery.
Plums and pears, Shottery
Apples aren’t the only fruit grown in orchards. These plums and pears, along with a lot of old varieties of apples, were in the orchard at Anne Hathaway’s cottage, Shottery.