Candy-striped carer

Candy-striped carer

A candy-striped spider (Complex Enoplognatha ovata) guarding the web holding her eggs. On the underside of two hazel leaves, which were held together by the web.

Greens: spindle fruit

Greens: spindle fruit

Fruits on a spindle tree, still very unripe, still green like the background vegetation.

Juvenile green shield bug, stages

Juvenile green shield bug, stages

Insects and other arthropods go through a series of stages or instars as they develop towards the adult form. As they grow, their exoskeletons must be shed before they can grow a new and larger one. Sometimes there are variations is the precise shape or colour patterns of each successive instar.

Such is the case for shield bugs, including the most common around here, the common green shield bug. Seen here, the fourth and fifth instars of a green shield bug. Pictures taken a week apart, possibly of the same individual – resting, at any rate, on the same leaf of a hazel bush.

Captive waterlily

Captive waterlily

Water lily, flowering under netting. Growing in the pond, with impressive koi carp, taking up most of a front garden on the route of one of my regular walks.