After the rain

It seems to have rained a lot in the last few days so when it finally stopped this afternoon we dashed out for a quick dog walk around one of our local woods. We walked past the narrow-lipped helleborines that were flowering at the end of July, so I had a quick look at them. They all seemed to have gone to seed and quite a few had been eaten! However, I did find one plant that was still in bud, but it seems very late to be flowering now, so I'm not sure what sort of helleborine it is.

Narrow-lipped helleborine now gone to seed (or eaten)

A helleborine still in bud

The minibeasts were out and about after the rain, particularly the great big black slugs that seem to hang about all over the paths. We found a tiny little woundwort shieldbug nymph, a rather dashing red and black squash bug and a black ground beetle with deep red legs called a black clock beetle.

Woundwort shieldbug nymph

Red and black squash bug

Black clock beetle

 There were very few butterflies flying, although we did see a few whites.

We also watched as a large dragonfly flew back and forth along a small stretch of the path. It's wings were glowing copper as it flew. I'm reliably informed it's a southern hawker.

There are signs that the fungi have enjoyed the recent rain. Even though it's a shame that summer's coming to an end, autumn is one of my favourite times of the year and it's definitely something to look forward to!

Baby sulphur tufts (tuftlets?)