A Variety of Different Species

Walking through the Scrapes some light pink flowers come into view.  This is Marsh Woundwort.  It looks more attractive than its relative Hedge Woundwort which grows throughout the reserve, whereas Marsh Woundwort only grows in this small area of the Scrapes.

Looking carefully amongst vegetation there are some cone shaped webs and on closer inspection a spider can be seen hiding inside.  Several stems of vegetation may be drawn together to help form a basis for the web.

Water Figwort is not the most attractive of flowers, but Figwort Weevils like it.  They look rather like bird droppings so can be easily overlooked.

Alder Tongue Gall,Taphrina alni is a fungal plant pathogen.  This is a chemically induced distortion of female Alder catkins.  The cone shows the beginning of the growth of the gall.

Another gall usually found on Norway and Sitka Spruce is the Pineapple Gall, Adelges abietis.  This is caused by an insect.  There are several developing insects inside the gall and they emerge from August.  As this one is within easy reach we will see if we can observe the chambers later in the summer.

And finally, Andrew, caught this blue damsel resting comfortably on a soft feather.