watercolour

Common stork’s bill Erodium Cicutarium showing long beaked seeds and numerous small flowers in each flowering head.

Two Little stint Calidris minuta in summer plumage on shoreline

Little stint Calidris minuta in summer plumage

Ripe lemon with pair of leaves, cut to white.

Alexanders Smyrnium olusatrum with Puccinia smyrnii rust on some leaves, and detail of one flower and one seed.

Close up of the lily flower, face on.  Cut to white.

Jersey orchid Anacamptis laxiflora close up showing the top of the flowering spike, with three flowers.

Deadly nightshade Atropa belladonna showing plant with flowers and berries.

Stand of Japanese knotweed Reynoutria japonica Fallopia japonica showing thicket of stems and foliage

Blue tit cut to white

Robin cut to white

Sprig of blossom of the wild cherry with early emergent leaves

Wood ant nest.  This nest belongs to the Southern red wood ant, Formica rufa.  Wood ant nests do differ between species, although it can be hard to tell them apart.

Nest and budded smaller nest of wood ant.  This budding often happens with wood ant species.

Mating during nuptial flight Formica rufa Southern Red wood ant queen and male

Worker caste of the Narrow headed ant Formica exsecta.  This species have curved backs to their heads.

Slender ant Leptothorax acervorum worker.  This ant is only 3mm, and although similar to the Shining Guest ant, has a darker and less smooth head.

Scottish wood ant Formica aquilonia worker. These ants are only modestly hairy.

Southern Red wood ant Formica rufa.  One of the most common species of European wood ant.

Shining Guest ant Formicoxenus nitidulus worker.  This tiny species is extremely shiny, and only 2.75mm long.

Hairy wood ant Formica lugubris, showing species-specific long hairs.  These reach up to and beyond the eyes.

Slave making or Blood red wood ant Formica sanguinea.  These wood ants are far redder than the other wood ant species.

Thorax and hairs detail of Hairy wood ant Formica lugubris.  Hairs are longer and more numerous than other wood ant species, and extend beyond the eyes.

Social parasitism in ants. The queen of the Slave maker ant, Formica sanguinea, being tended to by workers of Dusky ant Formica fusca.