Oysters in the Beck

A LOG in the stream has sprouted Oyster Fungus for the last year or two. A bracket fungus grows nearby on an old Crack Willow and looks like a snout at the end of the bough.

The first Jay that we've seen for months flies up from the path.
The orange-bellied mason bees are still active in their nest hole in the mortar. The Red-tailed Bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius, is the most distinctive of the bumblebees visiting the Chives flowers on the herb bed. Smaller bumblebees hum as they work the Cotoneaster flowers.

Cat's-ear, a hawkweed, has cat's ear shaped bracts on its long stems which are as thick as a mouse cable.

Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail; 'richard@daelnet.co.uk'