It looked quite small, but perhaps not quite so small as the usual greenfly or blackfly. It’s some type of giant aphid, resting on a hazel leaf.
Ducking and diving like kids at the baths
A hot, hot day at the start of this month. Two broods of ducklings which had been about the ifrst to hatch this year along the canal, now getting their adult feathers. The two groups were together – and all alive. To keep cool, they were playing. Doing all the thinks kids aren’t supposed to do at the swimming baths. Charging at each other. Power-diving, submerging only for a second. Shaking like a wet dog to dry off.
Flag irises, flower about to open
Flag irises, growing at the edge of the small amount remaining of open water in the pond at Compton Park. Pictured earlier this month as the flowers were just about to open.
Swimming serenely by, swans, Castlecroft
A swan family with half-grown cygnets, swimming by apparently serenely, on the canal at Castlecroft.
Rustic sailor beetle
a rustic sailor beetle – confusingly, a type of soldier beetle – on a fern leaf.
Young wagtail on a fence post
Young wagtail on a fence by the canal. Not worried even when I got quite close, probably because of inexperience.