Wildlife from Wolverhampton and nearby
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.
Hogweeds this year seem to be growing very tall. Here flowers seen from below.
Another glimpse of the July-hatched mallard ducklings on the canals hard by Aldersley Junction. This time they all (young and mother) were swimming right by the bank of the canal, just occasionally visible through gaps in the overhanging vegetation. As far as could be seen, all was well with them. The pictures are all of one duckling which was swimming a little further from the shore than its siblings.