Category: David

Great crested grebes on the large lake by the River Blythe at the Packhorse Bridge Nature Reserve. One of the birds was rising out of the water as it swam – as far as I could see, just to shake its feathers.

Male common darter dragonfly resting on the handrail of the footbridge over Compton Park pool. There have been some there in late summer every year since the pool was created in 2013.

Elderberries, unripe and just beginning to ripen. Two bunches; one still bright green, the other with the green fading and starting to redden. They were on shadier and more sunlit sides of the same bush.

Common blue butterfly which landed just a couple of yards from me, resting on a grass leaf by the bridle path near Pool Hall fishing pool.

Crowd of teazles on the ever more burgeoning plants growing near the edge of the wetland area in Compton Park.

Hawker dragonfly patrolling its territory, a stretch of the canal at Compton. A pair of swans by the far bank seem to have been preening together every one of the several times I visited that area recently.