Wild Carrot

Back in the middle of July, I was photographing an insect on the above umbel when I noticed a single purple flower in the middle of all the white ones.  I at first assumed this must be an abberation, but I then noticed a nearby plant also had a single purple flower at the centre of its umbel.  Up until then I had been having some difficulty in identifying white umbellifers, in particular I was unsure as to which were harmless and those, such as water dropworts, which were deadly poisonous.  So I decided to take several photos of this plant to help me identify it later when I got back home.  Also, knowing the plant often helps in identifying the insects found on it, and this can also work the other way round too. 

On getting back home I found that it was wild carrot (Daucus carota), the ancestor of our cultivated carrots, and also known in the USA as Queen Anne's lace.  The underside of the umbels were like this:

And the leaves looked like this:

A month later and the flowers had become spiny seeds:

And the umbel had curled up at the edges to form a prickly cup:

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-07-16 (first three) and on 2009-08-22 (last two).

Tormentil

Common tormentil (Potentilla erecta).  From our summer holiday.

Photo taken behind Highcliff, near Guisborough, North Yorkshire, UK, on 2009-08-06.

Pale Ducks

On Sunday afternoon I was walking round the large lake with Zoe when we saw this pair of pale brown, almost white ducks.  They seemed a bit smaller than the mallards that they were with, but this photo by Dave Appleton (halfway down this page at gobirding.eu) of a very similar bird in the Scilly Isles, suggests that they are probably a domestic breed of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos).

From the relative shapes of the heads I suspect that the one above is a male and the one below a female.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-01-03.

Update on Tue 2010-01-26 by Tristram Brelstaff

Zoe tells me that these are call ducks which are, just as I suspected, a small domestic breed of mallard.  Since about a week ago, one of them seems to have disappeared and the remaining one has been hanging around with a male mallard.

Hoverfly

Another image from our holiday in Guisborough in early August: a hoverfly, probably Sericomyia silentis (Diptera: Syrphidae).  It was on the heather moor behind Highcliff, in an area of reeds and sphagnum moss.  According to Michael Chinery (Complete British Insects, Collins, 2005), S. silentis is found "mainly in damp habitats" and "It's larvae live in muddy water".

Photo taken on Guisborough Moor, near Guisborough, North Yorkshire, UK, on 2009-08-06.

Meadow Cranesbill

From early in the summer: meadow cranesbill (Geranium pratense).

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-06-07.