Time of plenty and more to come

The end of July - plentiful food for all on the Riverside, with signs of a good autumn to come.

Brambles in the sun have ripening berries whilst those on shadier banks still have flowers providing a good source of nectar for butterflies:

A Gatekeeper butterfly finds nectar from bramble flowers in the

midday shade -

then it is challenged by a foraging Speckled Wood butterfly which

takes over from the Gatekeeper which flies off to another flower.

Speckled Wood butterfly takes over

In the sun there are more bees than ever before here on the wild field, foraging on the flowering thistle:

White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)

on a thistle flower in the hot sun, covered in pollen.

 Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bobmus lapidarius)

female, foraging on thistle flower.