This summer has been very frustrating in terms the small numbers of insects and other mini beasts around here. It has been so very cool and wet…until last week that is. Only in the last few days have I seen a few bees collecting pollen and one or two garden cross spiders making webs in the garden. Hover flies are at last in some number. The local nature reserves have been lacking in damselflies but just a few are around at last. Yesterday, I had a moderately successful afternoon bug hunting and I have combined my finds, in the gallery below, with those from an expedition in May. Hope you enjoy!

The Canada Goose is often described as a nuisance since it has bred so prolifically in our public parks and gardens. But we had great pleasure in watching a family of geese at Dunham Massey yesterday and it gave me the opportunity to practice more bird photography. We had actually gone to look for damselflies…there are plenty being reported in Yorkshire at the moment, but damselflies in our area seem to be a little timid this year and we have as yet only seen one immature specimen at our local nature reserve. I enjoyed watching a particularly aggressive male goose taking off, which reminded me of the heavy birds in…