Early morning, with lots of bumblebees on a clump of lavender.
It was still cool, and the bees seemed to be walking, not flying, as they moved from floret to floret.
Ripening filberts
Hazelnuts just beginning to develop, on a bush in the hedge by the towpath at Wightwick.
Birmingham canal ducklings
Mallard mother taking her young chicks for a swim.
The birds were on the Birmingham Canal, near the Dixon Street bridge.
Young coot after food
Half-grown coot chick which was swimming up and down a section of the lake at West Park, frequently diving to grab something to eat.
Old mooring rings in a French port
Heavy corroded mooring rings on a jetty in the south of France resort of Cassis, near Marseilles.
Damselfly on reed leaf
Male common blue damselfly, this time resting on a reed leaf.
Taken in the same area as the damselfly in yesterday’s post, but probably not the same individual. There were several of them around that day.
Spider all alone
Female lobed argiope spider which featured in a post yesterday.
These pictures were taken a couple of days later.
There was no longer any sign of the male …
Damselfly on a bramble leaf
Male common blue damselfly resting on a leaf of one of the bramble bushes by Pool Hall fishing lake.
Till death do us part
Lobed argiope (Argiope lobata) spiders, a female and a much smaller male.
The male is on the opposite side of the female’s web to her, as he approaches her.
It’s one of those spider species where, if they mate, he is destined to be the honeymoon breakfast.
She was at least an inch long. But arachnophobes don’t need to worry. This species only lives in southern Europe and further away. These were a stone’s throw from the Med near the French resort of Cassis.
An update in another post tomorrow.
Coot mother and young chick
Coot parent, possibly the mother, taking a young chick onto the lake at West Park.
Feeding the chick.
I’ve seen lots of coots with chicks this year. The chicks have all been singletons: two to four chicks is usually more common.
