Herring Gull - August 2020

It was an incredibly hot still morning for my photo shoot in dad's garden this week, with temperatures pushing up past the 30°C mark. Without even the gentlest of breezes it seemed just as hot in the shade as it was in the sunshine.

For the record, I'm not a sunlover, and hate the really hot weather, so my photo shoot was not the longest. I started it off by pointing my camera skywards, where a lone Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) patrolled the skies.

Family Flying Lessons - August 2020

The family of Goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis) that I featured last week were back, and this week the youngsters seemed to be taking flying lessons from mum and dad!

Damaged Gatekeeper - August 2020

There were still a number of these rather tatty looking Gatekeeper Butterflies (Pyronia tithonus) flitting around the garden, but rather surprisingly, there wasn't much of any other insect activity.

Summer Jasmine - August 2020

In terms of floral activity, the Summer Jasmine (Jasminum officinale) was beginning a second flush, and looked great against the beautiful blue sky.

Hypericum Bush Bloom - August 2020

The Hypericum bushes continued to produce bloom after bloom, and were brightening up an otherwise rather dull piece of hedging.

Common Honeysuckle - August 2020

The Common Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) had been flowering for months, and showed no signs of stopping.

Weedy Cauldron - August 2020

Even the garden weeds were putting on a lovely display, with these Bindweed (Convolvulus) blooms always catching my eye.

Sweet Pea Pods - August 2020

The Sweat Peas (Lathyrus odoratus) had almost finished flowering, and were now putting all of their energy into producing seeds - and it looked like there were going to be a whole lot of seeds!

Pyracantha Bush Berries - August 2020

The Firethorn (Pyracantha) bushes were beginning to produce berries, which would take at least a couple of months to ripen.

Ripe Bramble - August 2020

The Bramble (Rubus fruticosus) bush berries were already mostly ripe, although they didn't look particularly appetising when seen in close-up.

Blue Moon - August 2020

Finally, looking upwards again, the moon could be seen surrounded by blue sky.

So this week I went with Herring Gull as my Image of the Week simply because they feature quite regularly in my articles throughout the year, but have never been the subject of my feature image before...