Thank you to everyone who sent in wonderful photos capturing nature and wildlife around their local area! We will share the latest here…
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A cockchafer beetle, colloquially known as a Maybug or a doodlebug. Cockchafers have characteristic feathery antennae, a feature which greatly improves their olfactory ability to sniff out food or mates.
Photographed by Debra Starkey.
A heron (above) and a common roach (left) at Ladybridge in Tamworth. Who knows… this fish might have had the unfortunate fate as the heron’s dinner!
Photographed by Angela Streluk Rodgers.
Lichen on a gravestone at St Giles Church, Nether Whitacre. Lichen is not a single organism, it is instead the product of a symbiotic association between an algae and fungus. Within the lichen, algae grow between masses of fungal structures. The algae photosynthesises whilst the fungus provides a root structure, so the two work together to form a symbiosis.
Photographed by Debra Starkey.
A beautiful peacock butterfly feeding on nectar from an apple blossom flower.
Photographed by Debra Starkey.
This is a burrow dug into the side of an island at Ladywalk Nature Reserve. It could be the burrow of a water vole, but further observation will be needed to conclude this!
Photographed by Neil Adkins.
This fascinating fungal formation is a bracket fungus growing on a dead tree stump. These fungi can cause decay and rot in old trees, and can lead to their breakage and fall. There are many different types of bracket fungi, which cause varying degrees of damage to trees. These plate structures have many pores which are lined with spore-producing cells called basidia. The spores are released to germinate and grow into new bracket fungi.
Photographed by Debra Starkey.