David

Thistle flower with white-tailed bumble bee scrambling round after pollen. In one of the pictures, a tiny mirid, Plagiognathus arbustorum, put in a brief appearance – see cropped image for a closer view.

When the pond at Compton Park was created, back in 2013, there were two or three teazles in the wetland vegetation planted around the water. There’s now a mass of the plants, as the flowers and shrubs of all kinds get increasingly dense.

The other damselfly which took occasional pauses resting on bullrush leaves (see yesterday’s post). Pond at Compton Park, blue-tailed damselfly.

Clouded funnel mushroom (previously called clouded agaric). Quite common, these, already nibbled, in undergrowth at Tettenhall.

Resting on bullrush leaves on the pond at Compton Park, two azure damselflies. When the pond was created (2013) there were hundreds of blue damselflies (azure, common blue and blue tailed).

There has been no maintenance since, so the pond is being taken over by the vegetation. There is now only a tiny area of open water. The day these pictures were taken, there were only these two azure

The toll booth at the Bratch Locks; the half mile stretch only one boat wide at the Pendeford Rockin’, and between the canal and the i54 industrial estate, the small nature reserve.