A wasp gathering pollen from a forget-me-not growing in the woods which fringe Highgate Common.
The picture below is of a plant in the same clump, showing the flowers more clearly.
Honesty
Honesty flowers. The plant perhaps takes its name from the seed cases, which are semi-transparent and show the seed within.
False oxlip
The false oxlip is a cross between a cowslip and a primrose, which were blooming in abundance near to where this picture was taken.
To untrained eyes like mine, the plant looks like an oxlip. But that is much rarer, and in Britain it grows wild only in small areas of East Anglia.
Bee
A bee comes to rest on an earthen bank. The veins can be seen in its semi-transparent wings.
Peacock
Like the comma and tortoiseshell in the past two days posts, this peacock was making the most of the sun on April 13th.
At least a dozen different individuals, including examples from all three species, were on a single five-yard stretch of embankment by the towpath of the Staffs and Worcs canal at the back of Aldersley stadium.
Black poplar catkins
These catkins are a strong reddish-purplish colour – tending more to purple when they are knocked to the ground in strong winds then crushed.
Ivy leaved speedwell
This plant is a weed to gardeners.
The flower is tiny – just a couple of millimetres across. To the right of the flower there is an even smaller insect or spider (click on the picture to go to Flickr to see this more clearly on a larger version).
Comma butterfly
This butterfly was resting and warming itself on a sunny bank just feet from the tortoiseshell which featured in yesterday’s post.
Tortoiseshell butterfly
This butterfly feeding on a dandelion was my first go at doing video. As such, it is a good demonstration that hand-held close-ups at maximum zoom give a very shaky result.
Below is a still of the same individual at rest.
Gorse
This bee was busy collecting nectar from the gorse flowers. The gorse bloom is now well advanced.