Bumblebees

Climate change threatens many creatures crucial to our ecosystem. Any garden should be stocked with insectaries that encourage pollinators such as bumblebees. Latest research shows that our native Bombus Terrestris can navigate up to 8 miles, rather than the 3 miles previously thought to be its maximum. Here a bumblebee feeds avidly on Alkanet flowers.

Greenwich Peninsula river path

Next to the Millennium dome, imaginative planting of Primitive wheat and poppies, natural companions in this strange location. The heatwave has caused the wheat to grow tall but dessicated at the heads. The whole area has been improved by an ecological approach, and the crowning glory of the otherwise pointless dome is a nest of Peregrine Falcons atop one of the supporting columns.

A visiting grasshopper

This Long-horned grasshopper (minus a right back leg) graced us with a home visit today. I returned him to the garden; after a drink and a face wash he hid in the shade under a leaf.

Water Plantain?

Even in this heatwave, plants like this (Water Plantain?) can still find the damp cool spots, here in the shade next to my shed.

Teasel dew

For a few minutes after the fitful rain showers, spiders` webs retain the dew.

Woolwich Common in June

Five-spot Burnet moths feed on Vetch and Bramble flowers. In the middle of Woolwich common the bustle of London recedes to a hushed distance beyond the enveloping bushes and trees. At the height of summer the common teems with life, many species of insect fill every available niche among the tangle of plants. You have to walk carefully here; away from the main paths, the ground is pitted with old tank tracks and the thorns snag at your legs. The closer you look, the more you see, so the pressure of passing time means less the longer you stay enthralled.