Female common darter dragonfly ovipositing (depositing eggs) in the less than salubrious looking water of Compton Park pool earlier today. There were two or three males around, spending most of their time either resting on the decking or in brief bouts of jousting with each other.
There was also a male southern chaser patrolling over the water as its territory, though it never came close enough for me to grab a picture.
Yesterday was Heritage Open Day, and as usual the gardens and house at Wightwick Manor were open without their usual entrance charge.
The gardens are usually well worth a visit to see what flora and fauna can be spotted by their ponds, woods and large open area. But yesterday’s dismal dampness didn’t encourage sticking around for long – just enough time to grab these few pictures.
The saturated moss growing on a rock seemed to typify the weather. The overcast sky brought out the best of the liquidambar’s leaves beginning to change to the colours of autumn, and the berries of a spindle tree growing by the edge of the upper pond, and the more muted colours of a bear’s breeches in one of the borders.
Echinops, aka globe thistle, flowers, on their tall, thin stems, looking a little like some fearsome medieval weapon of war.
Dunnock, possibly a young bird, standing in the middle of one of the paths in Mary Stevens Park, Stourbridge.
Mullein plants, their stems reaching up to eye level or higher, studded with flowers. These were growing by the former lock keeper’s cottage at Wightwick lock.
The bright red of a cardinal beetle, resting on the delicate flowers of a hemlock.