Saturday 16 July 2016

Figgate Flowers

We had a lovely trip to Figgate Park today, it's looking very colourful with all the flowers at the moment

The burn is full of water crowfoot


The pictorial flower meadow is looking beautiful





the insect hotel is currently in bloom too, offering plenty of foods for the hotel's residents

 though this Syrphus hoverfly preferred the thistles

and this marmalade hoverfly preferred a dandelion



The water lilies are in flower

and being enjoyed by insects, including this common wasp

This common spotted orchid was tucked away in  the undergrowth - I seem to be seeing more of these orchids than usual this year!



There weren't as many birds around as normal, but we enjoyed watching this family of mute swans, with greylag geese and a family of mallards in the background

You may find it difficult to find male mallards at this time of year, this is because they are in eclipse - they're moulting and have taken on plumage very similar to the females, but if you look carefully you can see a little bit of green in this male's head

We didn't see many smaller birds at all, but they are well provided for with this new bird feeder


5 comments:

Lynn said...

Insect hotel - I like that!

Pietro Brosio said...

A nice trip indeed, very fine images!

Dartford Warbler said...

What a lovely place to walk on a summer`s afternoon!
It has been a good year for orchids down here in Southern England.

Sandy said...

Who could not love a field of wildflowers?

Tammie Lee said...

sounds and looks like a lovely day there.
sweet summer photos of flowers.
those tiny water flowers grow in my ponds. their flowers have already come and gone this season.