Wolves Wild

A West Park heron on one of the highest favoured perches, this time with its neck stretched out, occasionally inclining its head at a slightly differetn angle.

My damselfly sightings this year have been very heavily dominated by azure damselflies (often as they were mating). Not as numerous, but still quite abundant, have been banded demoiselles – I haven’t spotted any of the more reclusive and better camouflaged females.

Apart from these, very few individuals from very few species. This blue-tailed damselfly was resting on a leaf at the Compton Park pond mid-month. There’s been no sign of it on visits since.

Another summer butterfly. Small whites, as here, and large whites seem to be even more abundant than usual this year. Not good news for gardeners. The two species also known as cabbage whites, favouring these and other garden plants for laying their eggs, with hatch into voracious caterpillars.

Clumps of bracket fungi growing on the trunks of deciduous trees, often at around chest or shoulder height, chicken of the woods can sometimes be found on roadside trees. This was in a front garden by the Tettenhall Road.

The plants tend to be taller than the more common rosebay willowherb, and more likely to be found specifically in damp spaces. This one one one of the plants in the wildflower area surrounding the Compton Park pool.

Another summer generation butterfly, this one a red admiral attracted to the flowers of a buddleia.